As we wrote here two weeks ago in response to the third incident this year at Columbus High (the sixth in the county), bomb threats are a drag on the system. At the risk of sounding like a broken record: Bomb threats cost money, they interrupt learning and they inconvenience parents (and their employers) when parents rush to the school to pick up their children.
In an editorial written after the Feb. 22 threat, we urged school officials not to treat these threats as an impromptu holiday, but rather get students back in the classroom once the building has been searched. Also have bomb make-up days at the end of the school year, or better yet, do as one reader suggested, have make-up days on Saturday.
Students at CHS groaned when Principal Scott Hallmark announced Wednesday classes would resume as soon as the building was searched.
“If we continue to allow dismissals like this, this is going to continue,” Hallmark said.
Seems obvious by now.
Students were taking common assessment tests in biology in preparation for state exams Tuesday when the threat came in, and Hallmark said although parents were welcome to pick up their children after 10:30 a.m., he encouraged them to let the students finish out the school day.
We urge parents to keep their kids in school. Giving kids a holiday will do little more than encourage other miscreants to follow suit.
And we encourage law enforcement and court officials to throw the book at these punks. Police have not released the name of the 17-year-old arrested for the Feb. 22 threat. We think they should.
And for those convicted of making the threats, we urge school officials to grant them their wish. Give them a permanent holiday from school.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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