THREATS DISRUPT 2 AREA SCHOOLS

CHARLESTON -- School officials in Charleston believe they covered all bases in their effort to protect students following threats against the neighboring East Prairie School District this week. But then a threat was directed at Charleston schools.

East Prairie School District, which is seven miles away, was threatened via an Internet message over the weekend. By Wednesday the district had received a second Internet threat and had completely shut down, hoping a prolonged Easter vacation would help calm worried parents and students.

The apprehension late Thursday of a 16-year-old boy for allegedly making threats to the East Prairie School District should further help calm any fears. The boy is accused of posting threats on the East Prairie Internet home page guest book. A federal search warrant was served on a residence outside East Prairie and FBI agents seized a computer at the residence.

The initial threat at East Prairie prompted an immediate lockdown of Charleston schools, which left kindergartners and elementary school students with no recess this week. Older students at the middle school and high school had to enter the sole unlocked entrances of their buildings through metal detectors, and school principals spent their afternoons searching lockers for weapons.

"With everything happening in East Prairie, the rumors were flying, and I was answering call after call telling people there had been no threats," said Charleston schools Superintendent Terry Rowe. "Until around 10:30 Wednesday morning."

That's when a school counselor answering the Charleston Middle School telephone received the anonymous message: "I'm going to blow the school away."

A fire drill was held to get students out of the building while police and staff checked each room for bombs and weapons. Nothing was found, and students returned to classes.

"Bomb threats are something that occur at schools at least once a year," said Charleston Department of Public Safety Director Richard Couch. "We've identified a suspect and anticipate an arrest soon," said Couch.

Despite tight security that tightened further following the bomb threat, Charleston schools received a second threat Thursday morning. That threat was made verbally by a high school student who announced in a classroom that the schools "would not be here at 2 o'clock." The student was arrested and will be charged.

The teacher turned the matter over to the principal, Rowe said. "We will enforce the law as well as we can and make sure our schools are safe," said Rowe.

With 500 students -- about 35 percent of the district's enrollment -- already absent following the first threat, Rowe decided Thursday that the district needed a break. Students were dismissed from school after lunch and aren't scheduled to return until Tuesday, the day East Prairie students also return to school.

"We want to send the message that it is OK to send your kids back to school Tuesday morning," Rowe said. "We have suspects that hopefully will be arrested prior to that time. On Tuesday when we come back to school, detectors will be run again at the high school and middle school, and security will be around the buildings all weekend so kids can come back to school and feel safe."

Couch said he doesn't put much stock in the Charleston school threats.

With the anniversary of the Columbine Colorado school shooting on Thursday and the rumors and threats against East Prairie schools, it was a near certainty that something was going to happen locally, he said. "I personally feel this was kind of a joke or something to get attention," he said. "If this had happened a month from now it probably wouldn't have gotten the attention it's getting."

But some residents of East Prairie and Charleston said Thursday they no longer can relax because they live in small communities. School violence no longer is predictable to specific types of schools, so everyone has cause to be afraid.

"It's going to happen somewhere. Just because we're in a small area doesn't mean we can't be touched," said Charlotte Shockley of East Prairie. "We know that it does happen. That's what's so scary."

Sharon Rolwing of Charleston said she had seen the safety precautions the district was taking and felt the schools were safe. Even so, when her daughter said she was afraid to attend school Thursday, Rolwing had to believe her.

"She told me 'You don't know how it feels to be in a school that's on lockdown,'" Rolwing said. "I don't know how I would have felt if I'd have sent her to school and something had happened."