BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT MITCHELL -- An 11-year-old Beechwood Schools student was pulled from classes by her parents after writing threatening things about her teacher. The child would have been suspended, but her parents voluntarily pulled her out of school, school officials confirmed Saturday.
With this incident, Beechwood officials are joining schools across the Tristate and the country in setting new standards for handling threats of violence. Schools are taking such threats seriously after incidents in West Paducah, Ky.; Jonesboro, Ark.; Edinboro, Pa.; and Pearl, Miss.
Peers at each of the schools where shootings occurred said the students who used guns made threats or talked about what they were going to do before the killings.
Administrators here said they want to heed all warning signs. The Beechwood incident comes five days after Campbell County School officials confirmed that a middle school student was suspended for reportedly telling three other students he was going to kill them.
The student was suspended April 24 after two of his peers reported the alleged threat. The incident started as a dispute in the students' neighborhood. School officials are discussing further disciplinary action, which could include expulsion.
The Beechwood case is also another in a string of incidents at Tristate schools where student threats mean suspension and increased attention to school security.
On April 27, a fourth-grader at Hamilton's Fillmore Elementary School was suspended for allegedly compiling a "killing list," naming nine classmates he said had laughed at him during recess. The student returned to classes on May 4 after a five-day suspension and now must submit to a weapons check each morning.
And two 14-year-olds at Little Miami Junior High in Morrow have been charged with inducing panic and aggravated menacing after allegedly threatening to shoot classmates.
