The beginning of the school year has seen more than one of the local school districts dealing with incidents of students posting messages or images on social media involving weapons.

In at least two of the cases, the social media company SnapChat flagged the messages to the FBI, which contacted local police. The schools have handled discipline internally, but are more visibly partnering with local police to demonstrate efforts to safeguard students and staff.

Last week's community forum at Riverside-Brookfield High School underscored the need for parents to help school officials and police stay ahead of any potential danger.

At the same time, local school boards have reaffirmed their opposition to the state legislature passing a law that would allow school districts to train and arm teachers and staff as a way to either discourage or combat gun violence.

That the discussion is even being had is bizarre. We've said this before, but we'll say it again:

The solution to the epidemic of gun violence in this nation isn't to introduce more guns into schools, it's to begin eliminating guns from the equation. But until that happens, schools will continue to respond to children implying violence on social media and the reality that the next episode of gun violence can happen anywhere.