RESTROOM THREAT Police charge girl with disorderly conduct

She faced a hearing with the school board's disciplinary committee.
By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BESSEMER, Pa. -- The student accused of writing a threat in a girls bathroom at the Mohawk Junior-Senior High School last month has been charged with disorderly conduct, Pennsylvania State Police in New Castle said.
Police reported Friday that they filed the charge earlier this week but said they would not comment further because the girl is a juvenile. The girl is accused of writing a threat on a bathroom stall in a girls restroom that indicated someone would die on June 2.
Meanwhile, the girl faced a hearing before the school board's disciplinary committee on Wednesday, but school officials have not released details of the hearing.
Schools Superintendent Timothy McNamee said Friday the committee plans to present its findings to the entire school board in July. At that time the school board likely will decide what punishment, if any, the girl should receive, he said.
Parents' reaction
The episode has placed parents at odds with school officials since the threat was discovered on May 27, with many parents criticizing the way the school district handled the situation. Initially, school administrators said because they found the threat late in the day that Friday, they did not have enough time to notify parents.
School officials called police, but officers said when they arrived at the school, the threat had already been scrubbed off the wall. Police said the principal told them he had only reported the threat because the superintendent had told him to.
Many parents have said they learned about the episode through their children, by word of mouth or from various news reports. Nearly 50 parents arrived at a recent school board meeting hoping to show how angry they were that school administrators chose not to let them know about the threat.
Several parents also attended a school board work session earlier this month. McNamee did not answer parents' questions at the June 13 school board meeting. Rather, he made a prepared written statement available to parents after the meeting. In that statement, he explained he had decided not to notify parents of the threat because he did not want to create unnecessary panic.
He said on June 3, when the school district identified the student accused of writing the threat, the girl's name was immediately reported to police.