Threats against New York City schools have reached epidemic proportions, as the New York Police Department has fielded 334 threats of violence against educational facilities since September, an 18 percent increase from the last school year, the New York Post reported on Monday.

The NYPD did not reveal the number of arrests made in connection to the threats, but did emphasize that the week after the tragic killing of 10 at Santa Fe High School in Texas, NYC schools reported threats on three consecutive days.

The threats have come in various forms, according to NYPD spokeswoman Sgt. Jessica McRorie, including verbally, by phone, letter, and e-mail, as well as on social media.

A new study has found that more students have been killed due to school shootings in the past 18 years than in the entire twentieth century, The Hill reported.

Some educators are pressing for schools to harshly punish students who make threats, even if they are done in jest or without intent to harm, according to the New York Post.

However, some of the incidents show that this is not being done. On March 2 at La Guardia High School in New York, a male senior reportedly told a female classmate that he "wanted to shoot the school up so that he could know the feeling of taking a human life."

The girl and her teacher immediately notified school authorities, and the student was escorted out by cops and questioned.

But the following Monday, the boy was back in school as usual, and the girl who had reported him was reportedly terrified.