Beaver County officials say pupils' threats are no joke

The school building houses grades six through 12.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
HOOKSTOWN, Pa. -- Two Beaver County, Pa., middle school pupils are in a youth detention center today after telling teachers they were going to "blow up the school," Pennsylvania State Police said.
State Police were called to South Side School District's South Side Middle School near Hookstown Wednesday after teachers heard the two 15-year-old boys make the threats. Police and school officials say the threats may have been made in jest, but they must take them seriously.
"You can't yell fire in a crowded movie theater. I wouldn't dare say anything about hijacking on an airplane and you can't say these things in a school and not expect to have something done," Trooper Robert Beckey said.
Said they were joking: When questioned, the boys told administrators and police the threats were a joke. Police searched the home of one of the boys anyway and found nothing.
The second boy's home could not be searched because his parents were away, but a search is expected to take place today, police said.
A search of both pupils' lockers also turned up nothing.
Police said the boys were in an in-school suspension program on an unrelated matter when they talked about blowing up the school. The comments were not made as a direct threat and may have been the attempt of one student to get the other in trouble, police said.
No evacuation: School Principal Tom Ralston said the school was not evacuated Wednesday, but police were called because "in the school climate we are in right now, we don't take these statements lightly," he said.
"We feel that the boys were making those statements for the shock value, but were not going to risk deciding whether or not they were true," he said.
South Side Middle School is in the same building as the district's high school and houses schoolchildren in grades six through 12.
Both boys are in the Allencrest Juvenile Detention Center on charges of terroristic threats and disorderly conduct. A detention hearing is planned for 9 a.m. Monday.
Both have been indefinitely suspended from school, pending meetings with their parents.