Thursday, February 03, 2000
Schools get tough on bomb threats
Culprits find their acts have consequences
BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Two 15-year-old Glen Este High School students walked into the Clermont County Juvenile Court room of Judge Stephanie Wyler last week in handcuffs and orange jail fatigues.
The boy and girl had been in jail for several days. At appearances before the judge, each begged not to be sent back to a cell. The judge returned each to jail to serve 90 days then tacked on 30 to 60 days of house arrest and 40 hours of community service. Parents will have to pay $300 to $700 in restitution for costs incurred by the police and school.
When you make a bomb threat in today's climate of school violence, it is taken seriously. These young people discovered that what they perceived as a prank to get a day out of school had serious legal consequences.
“They cried,” said Michael Ward, superintendent of the West Clermont School District, where Glen Este High is located. “They were terrified. They did not think that their careless act would bring them to this point.”
There have been 42 bomb threats in Greater Cincinnati this school year — reflective of a national trend as teens find out it's a way to cause school disruption, get out of a test, wreak revenge for perceived unjust discipline or simply feed a need for notoriety. Nothing has exploded — except for the number of false alarms.
School officials must be careful to ensure the safety of buildings and therefore evacuate them and cancel classes if they perceive the slightest possibility a threat could be real.
However, law enforcement and school officials are using effective strategies to catch the culprits. When they do, the punishment is severe. There have been 17 arrests this year — 16 juveniles, one adult — solving 12 area bomb threats.
At Nagel Middle School in Anderson Township last month, two eighth-graders were arrested for writing a note claiming a bomb would explode in a restroom.
“They misspelled the word "tomorrow' in the note,” said Forest Hills Schools Superintendent John Patzwald. “That gave us an indication.”
Their case is pending in Hamilton County Juvenile court.
The methods of catching those who make bomb threats vary.
At Glen Este, Union Township Police Detective John Lucas said the investigation involved Cincinnati Bell's technology. The late-afternoon threat was left in a voice mail system at the school's guidance office.
Cincinnati Bell spokeswoman Maureen Kranbuhl said the company can trace most calls.
“I cannot be specific about our tracing capabilities ... but we work with authorities on all types of calls — pay phones, wireless, cell phones ... and long-distance calls.” Calls can be traced after they have been made, Ms. Kranbuhl said.
Sometimes, as was the case at Colerain Middle School last year, those who made the threats need to share their bravado with others. A loose tongue was the downfall of two students, 12 and 13, who will appear this month in Hamilton County Juvenile Court.
They are accused of putting a note on a bathroom wall announcing a bomb would to go off the day before Christmas break. They shared their plot with others. Word got out to investigators, said Hamilton County Sheriff's Detective Patrick Dilbert.
In other local cases, rewards have led to arrests. Authorities are offering $500 or $1,000 for information.
Another tactic is to turn a bomb threat into a “growth experience,” Mr. Patzwald said. When a recent lunch-time bomb threat occurred at Anderson High School, Mr. Patzwald ordered the student body to be transported to the Beechmont Mall parking lot where they sat for two hours.
“Sitting in those buses, there was a lot of frustration. They did not get out of school. After the school was searched, we brought them back in. We didn't feed them, but we talked about it.
“We want people to come forward and say, "This kind of thing is unacceptable.' ... Sometimes we use creative resourcefulness to emphasize our point. I suggest that responsibility commands accountability ... and we need (a student body and a community) to assume responsibility for their schools.”
And, in many cases, students are angered by bomb threats.
“A lot of students don't mind being in school” said Mr. Ward of West Clermont. “They enjoy being with friends and they like the experience of school. Those students become really angry.”
Students who appreciate their school communities and work hard are quick to comment.
“I'm ashamed that someone from here would do that,” said Kevin Ammerman, 17, senior at Glen Este High. “You would like to hope people would have more respect for others that they would not do such a thing. I'm upset. The fact is now we have the hassle of making up a day.”
Threats increasing
Carlos Sundermann, director of the National Center for Safe Schools in Portland, Ore., said he does not see the national increase in school bomb threats “at epidemic proportions ... but, that throughout the country, such bomb threats appear to be increasing ... since Columbine.”
Mr. Sundermann said he knows of no statistical data base for bomb threats, however, “I would guess, that the numbers (in Greater Cincinnati) appear higher than normal.”
“While you have to establish that a bomb threat is a serious issue ... and that the school will not tolerate it, at the same time, you have to work with the community to clearly establish norms. ... You have to involve parents to work with schools and not against them. To overreact too punitively could backlash,” with the punishment perceived as unfair.
“You don't suspend kids, (jail them) and throw away the key. ... There has to be counseling and follow up. ... There have to be checks and balances.”
Paying the consequences
The juvenile judicial system has decided to deal with offenders harshly, but at the same time, provide them help.
Judge Wyler said she perceives the rash of threats to be the result of “a combination of the fallout from the Columbine incident causing school (officials) to take threats more seriously, ... more public attention to them (and) copycats.”
“The kids who have come before me don't have a clue. We in the courts want to emphasize the seriousness of this crime because they just don't get it. We want to inconvenience them to the maximum to feel the consequences of what they do.
“But, at the same time, we want to provide counseling and psychological help, too. These youngsters (from Glen Este) were really scared and that is refreshing in a way. That tells me we have a chance with them. I think (the parents) are wondering "How could my kid be so stupid?'” the judge said.
Stopping the rash of bomb threats requires much more than jail time, peer pressure, hall monitors and security systems.
“In schools our size, I believe we need to break it into smaller units — develop a time where someone meets with various student groups every day to get to know them in other than the academic setting,” Mr. Patzwald said.
“We need to be able to say to each student: "Come in. Let's talk about you.' If we develop that, then we are going to find out more about our students. We need to care about students not just in the sense of seeing them learn but also who they are outside of the learning setting.
“Sometimes I wonder,” Mr. Patzwald said. “Is there a student out there who gets up in the morning alone? So, no one speaks to him at home. Then, he or she gets on the school bus and no one engages him in conversation. No one speaks to that student in class and no one calls on the student to participate. They eat lunch alone.
“Is there someone out there who spends their whole day without someone acknowledging them as a person? How many of those who seek notoriety have been shunned? We need to find those students out there and create an environment where they feel good about themselves” he said.
“Do that, and I suspect there will be few bomb threats.”
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