Nashville schools have been hit with a spate of social media threats. Now several students are facing charges.

Four Metro Nashville Public School students have been arrested for making online threats against their schools. The students told police it was a prank, but now they’re facing criminal charges.

The students ranged in age from 13 to 17 years old. They told the police department that they saw the threats as a way to get out of class for the day.

“The threats, to them, appeared to be a sort of modern day pulling of the fire alarm,” says police department spokesperson Kris Mumford.

She says the department believes that some of the Instagram posts were just copycats. But the students have been charged with making a threat against their schools and false reporting.

Days after one Maplewood High School student threatened a school shooting, another teen at the same school was found to have a loaded gun in his backpack.

Authorities are on high alert this school year, in the wake of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The Metro Nashville Police Department has amped up security across all schools in the city until further notice. High schools have at least two permanent school resource officers, and magnets receive regular visits. A few middle schools have permanent SROs, while others have rotating coverage.

Both the school district and the police department have said they are trying to strike a balance between keeping schools safe avoiding a significant increase in school arrests.