State Police charged two students at two high schools with making terrorist threats in similar circumstances last week.
Both male students, whose names were not released, are 15 years old. One incident happened at Cobleskill-Richmondville High School, the other at Schoharie High School.
The incident at C-R occurred on March 27. The student was overheard talking about guns and sharpshooters and shooting towards the school from a parking lot, according to Superintendent Carl Mummenthey and the State Police.
Another student contacted administrators, and the school implemented its threat assessment protocol.
School officials also called in State Police, who arrested the 15-year-old on Friday.
“We perceived the threat to be very low level,” Mr. Mummenthey said. “We look at whether it’s well-thought-out, whether there’s a time mentioned or names mentioned. None of that happened.”
Had the situation been more urgent, Mr. Mummenthey added, the arrest wouldn’t have come two weeks later.
Nonetheless, with school shootings in the news, C-R had to take the threat seriously.
“Parents expect us to dive deep and get to the bottom of things like this,” Mr. Mummenthey said.
Punishment followed C-R’s code of conduct; the student was suspended and then turned over to law enforcement.
Troopers charged the boy with making a terrorist threat, a Class D felony. Considered a juvenile delinquent, he was issued an appearance ticket to Schoharie County Family court and follow-up with county Probation, according to State Police.
On Friday in Schoharie, a 15-year-old was talking about bringing a gun on the last day of school, according to Superintendent David Blanchard.
“In this day and age, that’s like saying, there’s a bomb on a plane,” Mr. Blanchard said.
School officials investigated and called the State Police, who believed the incident rose to the level of making an arrest, Mr. Blanchard said.
Troopers arrested the student on Sunday.
“Nowadays, there’s very little tolerance,” Mr. Blanchard said. “Students have to recognize they can’t talk like this.”
Mr. Blanchard would not say whether the student was suspended but said Schoharie’s disciplinary procedures were followed.
As with the C-R incident, State Police charged the boy, as a juvenile delinquent, with making a terrorist threat, a D felony. He will appear in county Family Court with follow-up by Probation.