Students Arrested For Bomb Threats Face Tough Sentences

STAFF PHOTO Erin Spandorf Springdale police and a bomb dog from the Bentonville Bomb Squad were called Tuesday to a bomb threat at Springdale High School. Staff found the threat before school started and the building was cleared at 10:03 a.m.
STAFF PHOTO Erin Spandorf Springdale police and a bomb dog from the Bentonville Bomb Squad were called Tuesday to a bomb threat at Springdale High School. Staff found the threat before school started and the building was cleared at 10:03 a.m.

The 12-year-old student charged with making a bomb threat on a wall in a bathroom at Lincoln Middle School faces a felony conviction. A student as young as 16 making such a threat could be prosecuted as an adult.

Education officials and Northwest Arkansas police take threats of violence at school very seriously, as does Arkansas law. They're just not sure the students making those threats know how much trouble they're courting.

Timeline

School Threats

• Jan. 21: Fayetteville High School, bomb threat

• Feb. 1: Southwest Junior High School, Springdale, gun threat

• Feb. 20: Bentonville High School, bomb threat

• Feb. 27: Cooper Elementary School, Bella Vista, bomb threat

• Feb. 28: Har-Ber High School, Springdale, gun threat

• March 31: Bentonville High School, bomb threat

• April 1: Bentonville High School, bomb threat

• April 3: Heritage High School, Elmwood Middle School, Rogers, bomb threats

• April 4: Kirksey Middle School, Rogers, bomb threat

• April 7 : Fayetteville High School, bomb threat

• April 8: Heritage High School, Rogers, bomb threat

• April 10: Greenland High School, bomb threat

• April 11: Heritage High School, bomb threat

• April 15: Lincoln Middle and High School, bomb threat

• April 17: Barker Elementary School, Bentonville, bomb threat

• April 22: Oakdale Middle School, Rogers, unspecified threat

• April 23: Springdale High School, bomb threat

• April 23: New Tech High School, Rogers, unspecified threat

Source: Staff Report

Six Northwest Arkansas school districts have received 18 threats of violence, either bombs or guns, in recent weeks. Police deal with each threat, searching the school for weapons or bombs and increasing their presence and patrols.

The threats have disrupted class schedules and created nervous parents concerned about their children's safety.

The most recent came Wednesday to Springdale High School. A threat written on an outside wall read, "The school is going to blow."

Springdale police responded and parents flooded South Pleasant Street as news spread of the school's evacuation. A bomb sniffing dog from the Bentonville Bomb Squad searched the building. Students were evacuated to Jarrell Williams Stadium. They returned to the building for classes at 10:03 a.m.

Another threat was report late Wednesday in the Rogers School District. According to police, a threat was found in the building housing New Tech High School, Crossroads alternative school, Crossroads Extended Day School and the district's Professional Development Center on South First Street. The building is close to Russell D. Jones Elementary School and Birch Kirksey Middle School.

The threat was found on a bathroom wall. No further information was available from police Wednesday, according to Keith Foster, police spokesman.

Bentonville schools have experienced five threats since Feb. 20.

"Safety is one of our paramount concerns. We take it seriously, and we take the appropriate steps at every school to make sure everyone is safe," said Brad Reed, director of student services in Bentonville schools. "There are a whole lot of concerns, and the ramifications run through the school district and the community."

"Bomb threats do tend to run in a series," said Bill Bonds, school safety specialist for the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Bonds was the principal of a Paducah, Ky., school where a shooting occurred several years ago. "They tend to happen more in spring and occur in waves.

"If the threat is successful and accomplishes what the person wants, you are more likely to have another bomb threat," Bonds said. "Students may want to disrupt school, which he or she dislikes; or they may want to aggravate people and this makes them feel powerful to have influence over thousands of people."

Crime, Punishment

Arkansas law states it's a crime to write a threat on a bathroom wall and could land the writer in prison for several years and costs thousands of dollars in fines, not to mention legal fees, if the family has to hire a lawyer. Washington County Prosecutor John Threet said the penalty for a bomb threat is up to six years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

At 16, a teenager can be charged as an adult and face that punishment, Threet said.

Seth Creed, the juvenile prosecutor, said making a bomb threat is a felony for a juvenile, but there's no typical punishment if the perpetrator is charged in juvenile court. Creed said the juvenile court judge takes each case individually, reviewing circumstances in the child's life that may be behind the action.

For instance, a freshman at Greenland High School was taken into custody April 10 after admitting to police he wrote a threatening message on a bathroom wall at the high school because he was having a hard time dealing with issues at home. Police wouldn't say what those issues were, but they'll be considered when deciding what charges to file against the boy. Creed said the law doesn't allow him to state the charge that child faces.

Rogers police arrested a 15-year-old male in connection with felony communicating a false alarm after a threatening message was found April 15 on a bathroom stall at Heritage High School.

At least five other unrelated threatening message incidents are under investigation in Rogers, Foster said.

Fayetteville Sgt. Craig Stout said making an arrest is challenging because there are few, if any, clues other than the words written on a wall or stall, usually with some type of marker. In some cases, the messages may not be easily visible and there's no indication how long the message was on the wall before discovery.

"The two we've had in Fayetteville had been written, which makes it more difficult," Stout said, unlike a threat made by telephone, which is easier to trace.

Foster agreed finding the perpetrator is more difficult when the threat is written on a wall.

"It depends on the public coming in after the fact," he said. "There are people who know something, and they need to come forward."

Tallying The Cost

Threats of bombs and violence cost teachers and students learning time.

"It can be very disruptive when you are moving 4,000 students and 300 adults in a safe and orderly fashion. The threat causes everyone to react and puts us in crisis management mode," said Chad Scott, Bentonville High School principal.

Lauren Lamaestra, a junior at Springdale High School, said the situation made her nervous when she was evacuated from the building before school Wednesday. She went home for the day, saying she felt safer knowing she was leaving.

A parent at the school picking up her two teens after Wednesday's event was "aggravated" by the situation. Jennifer Manriquez, parent of a sophomore and junior, said students go to school to get an education and shouldn't have to worry about their safety.

Fayetteville beefed up patrols at the high school after bomb threats were found in January and March and brought in an ordnance detection dog from the University of Arkansas. Stout said it would be difficult to calculate the cost of additional police officers or the use of the university dogs.

"These are officers on duty, who have been reassigned, reallocated to the high school," Stout said. None of the additional officers were on overtime or called in from a day off.

The impact is other areas of the city may be without patrols while the officers are tied up at the high school, he said.

Students most often face expulsion for making a bomb threat, Scott said.

Jon Gheen, director of the Fayetteville school's alternative program, pointed to research concluding a student who's expelled has few, if any, options to continue his education and may be more likely to not complete high school.

Bonds said the consequence, to be effective, must be certain and immediate.

"You can't stop it if there is no perceived consequence. An effective consequence is immediate and kids have to see it immediately," he said. "I can stop it if someone is caught, and there is punitive action, and you make it very public."

Susan Shackelford, a clinical psychologist associated with Psychology and Counseling Associates of Fayetteville, said reasons behind the spate of bomb threats are difficult to assess. Some teens may want to avoid a test or class or they are seeking attention or just want to have fun and draw a reaction from teachers, administrators or law enforcement.

"We need to be better at differentiating those who pose a threat and those who are threats," she said. "Every time we respond, it's powerful" to the perpetrator.

Her son attended Fayetteville High School, the scene of two recent bomb threats.

"As a parent, I am secure that the probabilities are so slim. I'm more mindful about what's real and what's posed," she added.

NW News on 04/24/2014

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