BOARDMAN Boy is again suspended

The boy is accused of making an 'inappropriate comment' to a teacher.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- A Center Middle School pupil who just returned this week from suspension has been sent home again and faces possible expulsion for threatening a teacher, police said.
Principal Gene Pushic said the sixth-grader made an "inappropriate comment to a teacher and has been dealt with."
Pushic would not say what the comment was, but he confirmed that the boy has been suspended for 10 days.
Officials say the boy faces expulsion.
Previous threat: The boy returned Tuesday from a three-day suspension in which he was accused of threatening a fellow pupil on the school bus last week.
Police reports said he threatened to kill the other pupil by either slitting his wrist or his throat.
Because of that episode, the boy can no longer ride the school bus.
Police have said additional steps are being taken within the juvenile justice system regarding last week's threat.
Rumor investigated: School officials, meanwhile, say a report that a white boy threatened to kill black pupils at the middle school appear to be a groundless rumor.
Juvenile officers said a black pupil told his father about the threat, and the father alerted authorities.
Officer Rick Balog and Pushic said they have been unable to trace the rumor to any one pupil.
Balog said he was told by school officials that about two dozen pupils were called into the office and questioned about the identity of the child who was said to have made the comment, but the descriptions were too varied to pinpoint a particular boy.
Balog said a fifth-grader said she knew who the boy was, but she could not identify him in a yearbook and said she was not sure what his name is.
School officials say they talked to the girl and other pupils several times.
Pushic said school officials take such comments seriously and act immediately when such threats are made.