Warren County school threats prompt different responses

Parents of student charged in Wednesday’s Lebanon cases could have to pay.

Students were evacuated again Thursday from Lebanon Junior High School after another threat was found in a bathroom, the fourth consecutive day in which a local school was evacuated after a threat.

Also Thursday in Lebanon, a 14-year-old boy was detained after his arraignment on charges alleging he prompted the evacuation of the junior and high schools on Wednesday.

And in Waynesville, school officials opted to continue school without evacuation after searching in response to a threat there.

“Everyone is safe,” Superintendent Pat Dubbs said. “The threat was very vague.”

Meanwhile in Warren County Juvenile Court, Judge Joe Kirby advised the parents of the Clearcreek Twp. boy accused in Lebanon’s threats that he planned to seek reimbursement from them for the costs to the schools, police and fire departments of responding to Wednesday’s threats.

“I am going to be looking at whether the parents should be held responsible for some of the costs,” Kirby said, noting the two incidents connected to that case are among six threats in three different Warren County school districts in the past two weeks. “We have two new ones today.”

Kirby ordered the boy to remain in detention after prosecutors said he had a prior record for incidents involving domestic violence, drugs, breaking and entering and fighting. He also has been suspended and recommended for expulsion, according to court officials.

Kirby advised the boy and his parents that he could be sentenced to detention in a juvenile facility until he was 21, if convicted on the inducing panic charge.

A further detention hearing will be held at 11:30 a.m. May 12 in Warren County Juvenile Court.

At Lebanon Junior High, students were moved to the stadium after the threat while police swept the building again. Some left with parents.

The evacuation went more smoothly than Wednesday when traffic snarled at the intersection near the junior high at Ohio 48 and Miller Road, due to road construction north of the intersection and the crush of buses and cars traveling through the area or picking up kids after threats at both buildings.

On Thursday, detectives were walking the halls at Lebanon High School, but the school day there was otherwise uninterrupted for the first time this week.

While continuing the school day, local police and school officials in Waynesville worked with other law enforcement, including Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell, Dubbs said.

Police cruisers were along the main road in front of the school and in the parking lot, but class and other activities continued.

The five school evacuations in Lebanon followed a threat found on a bathroom last Wednesday at Springboro High that prompted evacuation and closing the school on Thursday for a special search of the ventilation system that cost the district $2,000.

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