School threats prompt calls for stiffer penalties

Staff/wire reports

Taking a harder line on crimes no longer seen as juvenile pranks, state lawmakers around the U.S. are proposing stiffer penalties for people who threaten schools at a time of fears over terrorism and mass shootings.

As demonstrated by this month’s shutdown of Los Angeles schools, threats can cause large, costly disruptions and traumatize students even in cases that might involve hoaxes.

Though most states already have laws that allow prosecution of a school threat as a felony, there have been proposals across the U.S. to increase punishments, said Michael Dorn, executive director of the school safety nonprofit group Safe Havens International.

Some Ohio House and Senate members and Mahoning Valley educators are open to considering comparable law changes.

“The days of school threats being taken as childish pranks are pretty much over,” said Jordan Plottner, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Caucus.

Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, said lawmakers are considering bills that would require people who make false reports to repay any costs that result from responding officers and other agencies.

“That might deter some people from making the threats,” he said in a released statement. “We are still researching the legislation, but it’s something that other states have done.”

State Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th, said she would support, in concept, increased penalties for school threats, and she said she would discuss the issue with other lawmakers and representatives of the legal community.

But, she added, state law already allows felony charges for certain threats, with heightened penalties for terrorist threats.

She added, “We’re living in a really different time right now. ... Education and our kids are our future, and any attacks on where they should be safe should be taken seriously.”

Stephen Stohla, interim Youngstown City Schools superintendent, recalls one episode several years ago when he was a principal in another school district. The school received a bomb threat, and personnel contacted the FBI for assistance.

“The kid was arrested, and that seemed to help,” Stohla said.

In that case, the student who called in the threat didn’t want to take a test, the interim superintendent said.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and subsequent incidents, however, such episodes raise more concerns, he noted.

“If that would be an issue here [at the city schools], I would want to see them enforcing the stiffest penalty possible,” Stohla said.

Ron Iarussi, superintendent of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center and the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, agreed.

“In the case where an individual is using it as prank to get a day off school, some kind of increase in penalty may be a deterrent,” he said. “Most of those are just pranks, but they cause quite a disruption, particularly to the learning process. You may have to evacuate a school or call a day off.”

Superintendent Matthew Bowen of Campbell City Schools said he also would support stiffening penalties for threats against schools, noting that in addition to the disruption of canceling classes, threats force law enforcement and first-responders to mobilize and expend considerable time and energy.

Bomb-sniffing dogs arrived at the scene after a December 2014 bomb scare led to the cancellation of a basketball game between Campbell Memorial and Brookfield high schools. Another bomb threat forced 400 students to evacuate the high school in October.

In November, a man used the website “Youngstown Angels” to put forth the false claim that a Campbell Elementary School student had brought a gun to school in her purse. The website’s creator was not charged with a crime.

School remained open despite the claim, but Bowen said the false posting still caused considerable disruption.

“I had concerned parents calling my office all day,” Bowen said. “In this day and age, as a parent, you want to know your child is safe when you entrust them to someone else.”

Boardman schools dealt with a threat in April in which a high-school student purportedly posted threats against other students on Twitter. Police and school officials say the incident caused significant disruption to the school day, as a few hundred students either stayed home from school or left early.

That student recently was charged with inducing panic, a misdemeanor offense.

Frank Lazzeri, superintendent at Boardman schools, said he supports legislation that would increase penalties for those types of offenses.

“I think it’s good legislation. I think anyone who targets a school needs to be held accountable for those actions, especially in this time of terrorism,” he said.

What he does not support, he said, is an across-the-board, zero-tolerance policy when students are the perpetrators of threats.

“I think you have to take it case by case. ... You have to look at the age of the person, the rationale behind the behavior – is that person in their right mind?” he said.

Superintendent David Janofa of Poland schools also expressed support for the proposed legislation, saying, “It’s about time.”

The penalties currently in place don’t pose enough of a deterrent, he said.

Stiffer penalties, however, aren’t likely to have much effect on someone who is bent on committing an actual attack, Iarussi points out.

Brad Miller, a spokesman for the Ohio Republican Caucus, said lawmakers have moved a number of bills aimed at addressing school security.

The biennial budget passed and enacted earlier this year included funding for grants to reimburse schools installing surveillance and other security systems.

Another House bill that was moved by the chamber and is awaiting action in the Ohio Senate would increase penalties for those who use cellphones and other electronic devices to harass or stalk residents.

And HB 114, which also was passed by the House, would provide some flexibility for schools wanting to install specialty barricades to protect students during active-shooter incidents.

Lawmakers have not yet introduced legislation specifically addressing criminal penalties for school threats, however.

Kim Norris, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Education, offered in a released statement, “We are not aware of any specific legislation at this point, but we will continue to work with our partners in school safety through Ohio Homeland Security.”

John Murphy, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said the issue isn’t on his group’s radar.

Contributor: Marc Kovac, Columbus correspondent