BY DAVID ECK and MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FRANKLIN -- A male student at Franklin High School was arrested Thursday in connection with a bomb threat that interrupted classes and caused students to be released about 20 minutes early.
Students were safely evacuated and no injuries were reported, said Superintendent Dinzle Brown.
The student was suspended for 10 days, and the district will recommend he be expelled in a hearing that will be held in the next 10 days, Mr. Brown said. The district also will file charges with police today.
The student lives in the city, said Franklin Police Officer Chris Musgrave. But police would not release his identity, age or grade how they linked the student with the threat.
The building was evacuated shortly after noon Thursday when someone phoned in the threat.
"Apparently (the caller said) just that there was a bomb in the school -- nothing more; nothing less," Officer Musgrave said. "At this point, it was a prank call."
Officials say the student phoned in the threat while he was in school, Mr. Brown said.
A student in the school office took the call and told a secretary who relayed the threat to a principal, said William Wood, assistant superintendent. The caller then hung up.
"The two principals (determined) it was necessary to evacuate the building," Mr. Wood said.
Franklin police officers and firefighters searched the school about two hours before determining the building was safe. A team of teachers and administrators also assisted in the search and checked the building twice for anything unusual, Mr. Brown said. Officials do not think other students were involved.
Thursday's incident was the fourth threat allegedly made at Warren County Schools so far this academic year. The others:
Last week, a 16-year-old Springboro boy allegedly made threats at the Springboro High School. County prosecutors will not elaborate. An 11-year-old Lebanon student was expelled and placed under strict house arrest Monday after allegedly threatening to blow up a school bus Sept. 2. While in the Berry Middle School principal's office, he allegedly threatened to blow up a bus and to jump from a second-story window.
A 15-year-old Kings High School freshman on Sept. 2 allegedly threatened to shoot an eighth-grade student at Kings Junior High School.
A series of school shootings last year spurred local educators to step up safety measures.
Nationally, 11 children and two teachers died in five school shootings last year -- all with guns fired by other children.
"I would say we're very sensitive to student safety. We will put student safety first," Mr. Brown said, adding the district plans to punish "the person who did this with the maximum we can give him."
Students sat, talked and watched from a yard while the building was checked. They were able to re-enter the building to get their valuables shortly before 2 p.m. School was then dismissed, about 20 minutes early, Mr. Brown said.
"Based on extensive searches of the building, it was determined it was safe for the kids to re-enter," Mr. Wood said.
About 780 people were in the building at the time of the threat, Mr. Wood said. It houses grades 9-12.
