Police charge student with disorderly conduct
CONNELLSVILLE – Connellsville police have filed charges of disorderly conduct against 17-year-old Connellsville Senior High School student in connection with an incident that took place last week at the school. The unidentified juvenile allegedly made a statement that was perceived as threatening to students and staff at the school.
Connellsville Area School Board President Francis Mongell said Monday that the alleged threat at the high school was the second of three unrelated incidents that took place during the week.
“I stand behind the action taken by the administration,” he said. “This has got to stop.”
According to Mongell, the first incident took place at Junior High West and the most recent made by a Connellsville Township Elementary School student.
District superintendent James Duncan said the junior high school incident remains under investigation.
“There were rumors floating around the school that a student had been shot,” said Duncan. “There was absolutely no basis for the statement, but it caused a vast amount of confusion.”
The senior high school incident came during a conversation, with an alleged threatening remark resulting from the discussion. Following an in-school hearing with the student and his parents, the student was suspended for the remainder of the school year, said Duncan.
The third incident, said Duncan, involved the elementary student allegedly threatening a teacher at the school.
A hearing has yet to be scheduled in the matter.
With the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, the October shooting of 10 schoolgirls at the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and the April rampage at Virginia Tech where 32 college students and staff were killed by Seung-Hui Cho before he turned his gun on himself, threats aimed at other students and staff must be taken seriously, said Duncan and Mongell.
“Several years ago, the building principal would have pulled the student making such comments into his office and chastised them for making the remark, but you can no longer take these things lightly,” said Mongell. “They have to be taken seriously.”
Duncan, too, said parents of other students in the building would not tolerate an unsafe environment for their children.
“We can not overlook threats that could result in a dangerous situation,” he said.
The high school student will not be permitted to return to the classroom, but will continue his education through a home-schooling program.
Additionally, said Duncan, he will be required to participate in a counseling program. The matter will be again reviewed to determine if the student can return to school in the fall.
Duncan added that the school board will also discuss cell phone use by students during school hours after it was determined a large number of students contacted parents following the incidents.
The high school attendance rate was very low Friday, according to figures provided by Indy Lynn, senior high school attendance coordinator, but Duncan said he was unable to completely attribute the absenteeism to the three incidents.
The average attendance rate is between 90 and 92-percent, but on Friday it had slipped to 62-percent, according to Lynn.
“I’m sure some of it was tied to what had taken place during the week, but it was a beautiful day and I’m sure there were some students that just decided they wanted a day off,” he said.
High school attendance officer Ken Hominsky said 118 students were absent from school Monday, which returned the attendance rate to 91-percent.