NHS bomb threat suspects face expulsion

Steven Connolly (Courtesy photo)

NORTH BERWICK, Maine - The two Berwick teenagers arrested in connection with last week's Noble High School bomb threat face expulsion from the school when the MSAD 60 School Board meets tomorrow night in North Berwick.

School Superintendent Steven Connolly told The Lebanon Voice on Tuesday he couldn't comment on whether the pair was already suspended due to privacy concerns, but added that it is customary in such cases.

The two are accused of posting a threat to set off a bomb at the school on Jan. 13 on social media, a post seen by several students early last Wednesday forcing the shutdown after Connolly termed the threat "credible."

During an executive session at Thursday night's school board meeting, board members will hear the evidence against the pair and, much like a jury, be able to vote on a variety of punitive options, up to and including expulsion.

"Students who terrorize the school community through bomb scares will typically face the full force of school sanctions, including expulsion," Connolly said.

He added that it's separate from the legal system.

"If the school finds evidence and reasonable suspicion and provides evidence to the board regarding something like this, than the school board can move to expel," he added.

North Berwick Police have already charged the two Noble High students, ages 17 and 15, with Class C terrorizing, punishable by up to five years of incarceration upon conviction.

The Twitter page on which the threatening post was uploaded has been taken down, Connolly said, adding that officials at the popular social media outlet had been very cooperative during the early stages of the investigation.

Connolly said despite all the havoc wreaked by the incident it was very rewarding to see how smoothly all the emergency response plans were put into effect.

"First of all you never want to have to employ your crisis plans and backups to those in crisis situation, but when you do have to employ them and see safe movement of 1,300 students form the school, it's good," he said.

Upon putting the bomb threat evacuation plan in motion, all Noble High students were shuttled to the Noble Middle School for pickup.

Connolly said the most difficult part was the inundation of the middle school's parking lot with parents trying to pick up their kids as well as the school's land lines and wi-fi bandwidth as parents and students tried to connect using their smartphones.