N.Y. Student is Charged With Bomb Threat Via E-mail
A Long Island high school student faces criminal charges after allegedly sending a bomb threat to an area middle school via electronic mail.
The school librarian at Herricks Middle School received the threat late last month. According to officials, America Online, a commercial on-line computer network, responded to a subpoena to release subscriber records for 16-year-old Michael Singh. He was later charged with second-degree aggravated harassment, a misdemeanor.
In the message, the sender said he planned to place a bomb in the middle school the Friday before the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashana, police said.
School officials have suspended Michael for five days and are considering further disciplinary action.
High School Computer Hacker
Administrators at an Idaho high school are seeking new security measures for their school’s computer labs after a student wrote a program that locked teachers out and destroyed some students’ work.
The student at Minico High School in Rupert gained access to other students’ computer passwords and the ability to read their files, said Assistant Principal Kile Nightingale.
The program also made teachers’ passwords unusable and destroyed some information stored in the system, including many students’ assignments.
School officials did not release the student’s name or grade level. They declined last week to say what disciplinary action had been taken after the prank was discovered last month.
Fatal Stabbing
A schoolyard argument at an upstate New York middle school ended tragically when a 13-year-old girl was fatally stabbed.
A 12-year-old girl has been charged in the Sept. 21 death of Stephany Givens, a 7th grader at the 1,100-student Jefferson Middle School in Rochester.
According to officials in the 35,000-student district, the two students were arguing over a boy before classes began. The younger girl allegedly pulled a steak knife from her backpack and stabbed the other student in the neck, a police spokesman said.
Police have charged the youth with juvenile delinquency; under state law, no one under 13 can be charged with murder. If convicted, she could be placed in the custody of New York’s State Division for Youth for up to five years.
No Bad Breath
Nearly 1,000 students who attended a fall dance at an Indianapolis high school had their alcohol levels tested by the school’s new Breathalyzers.
To promote the Indiana’s “zero tolerance” policy on alcohol and drug use, North Central High School, Indiana’s largest, was the first school to buy and use the alcohol-sensing machines. Police officials trained school administrators and staff to administer the Breathalyzer tests.
School policy states that students with alcohol on their breath must be detained, and their parents must be notified. But there were no incidents or problems at last month’s dance, Principal C.E. Quandt said.
Bus Driver Killed
A Louisiana school bus driver was struck by a car and killed as he attempted to stop a student from running into oncoming traffic.
Samuel Plummer, a 49-year-old bus driver for East Baton Rouge Parish, was killed late last month. According to police officials, Mr. Plummer noticed a student, who was not a daily rider, hiding on the bus. As Mr. Plummer was escorting the 13-year-old off the bus and across the street, he stopped to allow an oncoming car to pass. The car hit both the child and Mr. Plummer.
School officials have not released the name of the boy, who fled into a nearby subdivision and denies any involvement in the accident.
“We have not filed charges against the driver of the vehicle and are still investigating what led to the accident,” a police spokesman said.
Gang Busters
The school board in Racine, Wis., has approved a policy that prohibits gang-related activities in district schools.
The policy bans students from wearing, selling, or possessing any clothing, jewelry, or emblems that show gang affiliation. It also prohibits students from drawing gang graffiti and encouraging gang membership or activities.
Students who violate the policy could be suspended or expelled.
Although the 22,000-student district does not have as extensive a gang problem as larger cities, said Frank Osimitz, an assistant superintendent, some influence from gangs in nearby Milwaukee and Chicago is evident.
“This is a proactive measure on the part of the school board to make sure our schools are safe,” Mr. Osimitz said last week.
