First Posted: 3/30/2015
In less than 24 hours, Elida school officials and police had a confession from the student who wrote a note last week saying a shooting was going to take place before classes dismissed at the high school.
The quickness in which the student was caught was stunning, however, we were not surprised police caught the culprit – very few ever get away.
Most disturbing was the reason the student gave for writing the note — it was “a prank” to get out of school.
A prank?
No one’s laughing.
Nowadays, such pranks come with stiff penalties, as they should. School officials and prosecutors cannot afford to be lenient, even if the student actually had no intention of carrying out the threats. There are three reasons why: Columbine, Sandy Hook and Chardon.
We give Elida’s first-year superintendent Tony Cox and police an “A” for their handling of the situation. They received the note shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday from a student who found it in a bathroom and turned it over to a teacher. School resource officers were notified and the building was put on lockdown for an hour and a half while police investigated. Students were released around 12:45 p.m. with parents receiving a text notification.
Officials learned the identity of the student when they reviewed security video footage after students left the premises. Thursday morning, the student was placed under emergency removal — meaning the student was unable to access school premises until questioned by officials with parents present. At that point, the student confessed.
The school plans to follow police recommendations to pursue charges with prosecutors.
Cox’s message afterward was right on a target.
“If we as a district want these types of situations to stop, we all need to talk to our students,” he wrote in a letter to parents. “Please talk to your student about the dangers of poor decisions like this. Parental involvement will help us reduce/eliminate these kinds of threats.”
