Before viciously beating and kicking Josie Lou Ratley, the 15-year-old accused in the attack told friends his intentions.
"I'm coming over there and I'm gonna snap your neck,' Wayne Treacy wrote the victim, said Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti.
But as far as investigators can tell, no one sent in a warning about the Deerfield Beach Middle School student's being in danger, the Broward Sheriff's Office told reporters Tuesday.
"A handful of people knew about it,' BSO Sgt. Steve Feeley said, "and nobody did anything about it.'
Under its "Silence Hurts' campaign, the Broward school district allows students to submit anonymous tips -- by phone, text message or online -- about bullying, threats or anything else that makes them feel unsafe.
The phone line has received about 115 tips since August, said district spokesman Eddie Arnold.
School officials discussed procedures they have in place to protect students after a hastily called news conference to discuss safety in schools following another act of youth violence in Broward County on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, while their school bus pulled into McNicol Middle School in Hollywood, boy, 14, punched his ex-girlfriend, 12, in the face several times and fractured her nose, according to Hollywood police.
The boy was arrested and charged with aggravated battery and obstruction without violence, police said. He has a prior history of violence on campus, according to the arrest report.
The Herald is withholding his name because of his age and the nature of the charge.
Tuesday's beating was the most recent in a string of savage attacks involving students in the school district.
In November 2008, Dillard High sophomore Teah Wimberly shot and killed classmate Amanda Collette. Wimberly, who was convicted of murder, has not yet been sentenced. After the shooting, Wimberly's friends came forward and said she texted them about committing suicide and shooting her friend.
In October 2009, 15-year-old Michael Brewer was doused in rubbing alcohol and set on fire by a group of schoolmates, according to BSO. All the boys involved went to Deerfield Beach Middle, however the attack happened after classes ended and off campus.
And earlier this month, ninth-grader Treacy bicycled over to the same school, where he slammed Ratley's head onto the ground and kicked her in the head with his steel-toed boots up to seven times, according to BSO.
Treacy and Ratley had been texting back and forth when Ratley made a disparaging comment about Treacy's older brother, who committed suicide in October.
Lamberti said Treacy continued texting after the attack, at one point sending a message saying he was going to prison because he might have killed somebody.
IN COMA
Ratley remained in a medically induced coma at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. So far, swelling had gone down on one side of her brain but not the other, said her family's lawyer, Rick Freedman.
Investigators don't have all of the messages sent that day, including the specific comment made about Treacy's brother, said BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal. Some of the messages had been deleted, but investigators expect to get them back from the phone companies, Leljedal said.
On Tuesday, school district officials outlined the steps taken to improve student safety both across the district and specifically at Deerfield Middle.
In the past year at Deerfield Beach Middle School, the bell hours have been changed so not all students are changing classes at the same time, said Leah Kelly, the district's associate superintendent for student support services.
During dismissal the day Ratley was attacked, there were eight adults on duty, including an assistant principal, a school resource deputy and two campus monitors, according to Arnold, the schools spokesman.
He and other district officials emphasized that schools do their best to keep students safe by having only one point of entry and scanning the driver's licenses of visitors. But they acknowledged that violent incidents take place.
"We cannot control everything that happens,' Arnold said -- particularly during school dismissal, when kids are boarding cars and buses and hopping on bikes or walking home.
TALKING TO KIDS
He and the others stressed the importance of parents and other community organizations talking to children about how to deal with their problems and reach out to adults they trust when they're in trouble.
"The community has to have the same sense of urgency the school district has,' Kelly said.
Among the suggestions: banning cell phones from school.
This is not a realistic option, Kelly said, because state law allows students to have them.
Broward's code of conduct says phones must be turned off and kept out of sight during class time. And they cannot be used for calling or texting during school hours.
Kelly has been organizing a group -- that will include parents, students and district personnel -- to take a look at technology in school, including what students should and should not be able to do during lunch and other breaks.
"We've got to catch up,' she said. "We need to have a vision about how we're going to approach these things.'
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