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Title:
Bomb Scares in School Settings
Author:
Jack Ryan
ID:
LL102
Issue:
SU1-5
Issue Date:
2004-09-01
Edition:
School
Type:
Article
Body:
In J.L.K. v. Florida, 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 16206 (10/29/04), a Florida Appellate Court upheld a lower courtís decision to impose a more extreme punishment against a student who made a false report of a bomb in school.
J.L.K. called a bomb scare into her school in the early morning hours of the school day. The false report led to an evacuation of the school and a response by the police. This was the eighth such bomb scare at the school.In concluding that the punishment recommended by school officials was not sufficient the court noted that the bomb scare deprived 900 students of a good deal of their day of education. As such there were 900 victims. Additionally, buses had to be called to the school and the police had to respond with bomb-sniffing canines. This was all at the expense of taxpayers. The court noted that even during pranks people have been injured in the course of evacuations and emergency response to these situations. The court rejected any notion that J.L.K. may not have known the consequences of her actions since she must have witnessed the previous eight bomb scares.The court concluded that J.L.K. would be committed to a low-risk juvenile detention facility.In Doe v. Winchendon School Committee, 2004 Mass. Super. LEXIS 221 (2004), a Superior Court of Massachusetts considered a case where school officials had issued a memorandum to students regarding a bomb threat which had occurred at a school in Massachusetts. A student, Adam Doe took the memorandum and wrote on the back of it: ìA bomb will not go off between the hours of 7:28 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., do not evacuate the school. Nothing will happen, do you understand.î Adam passed the note to a friend, who read it and left it in the classroom where it was discovered.The principal immediately suspended Adam pending the outcome of a juvenile delinquency proceeding which was instituted after the school resource officer turned the matter over to police investigators. The principal, following a Massachusetts statute, indicated that Adams presence at school would have a ìsubstantial detrimental effect on the general welfare of the school.î Adam did receive a hearing on this matter and alternative educational alternatives were offered to him.The court concluded that Adam had been provided with fair treatment and he was not entitled to any immediate remedy to his suspension.
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