Friday, June 5, 1998
The Associated Press
DELAWARE, Ohio -- Two Buckeye Valley Middle School students were arrested on charges related to an alleged plot to kill a teacher, the Delaware County sheriff's office said.
The boys, both 14, were charged with disorderly conduct and making a false alarm. They were ordered Thursday by a juvenile court judge to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, court administrator Stuart Berry said.
Sheriff Al Myers told the Delaware Gazette that the youths planned to obtain a gun and shoot teacher Tom Stage. Sheriff Myers did not return a call requesting comment Thursday.
Buckeye Valley Schools Superintendent Sam Martin said Thursday that someone overheard a conversation between the boys threatening Mr. Stage, who is a special-needs teacher. Special-needs teachers usually instruct students with learning disabilities, Mr. Martin said.
The information about the overheard conversation was turned over to the sheriff's office immediately, he said. "What was important to us was to get the sheriff involved and treat it like it was absolutely going to happen," Mr. Martin said.
The boys denied their statements were a threat and told authorities they were joking.
There have been several recent cases in Ohio of students allegedly threatening to commit a violent act against a peer or a teacher. Among them:
A 15-year-old Canton boy who allegedly wrote e-mail to a classmate threatening to kill her, himself and a teacher was arrested Tuesday and charged with aggravated menacing.
The final day of classes Thursday for 1,700 junior and senior high school students in the Cloverleaf district near Medina was canceled because of an unfounded rumor that a youngster would bring a gun to class.
