Student arrested in threat

A 14-year-old boy was arrested at Sierra Vista High School on Thursday afternoon after police discovered that he had threatened on his My Space Web page to damage the school using explosives, a district police spokesman said.

The student did not have any explosives or weapons on him when he was arrested, said Lt. Ken Young, with the Clark County School District Police Department.

The youth was arrested between 12:45 p.m. and 1:15 p.m.

Young said the incident did not disrupt the school day for other students.

Police were alerted to the threat by a parent of another Sierra Vista student Wednesday night.

Young said police searched the boy's home Thursday morning and didn't find any explosives or weapons that indicated he was serious about the threat.

Young did not disclose exactly what the student wrote on myspace.com, a popular networking Web site.

Young said the student's threat was general and wasn't made against any students or staff at the high school.

The name of the student was not released because he is a minor.

"The gist of it is, he made basic threats against the school in the form of using explosive devices," he said.

Young said the school system takes threats made by students seriously, no matter if they are serious or just in jest.

"There's no tolerance for it," Young said. "It's just like if you are at the airport and start talking about bombs and weapons."

Young said the student was charged with threatening to harm pupils or staff in a public or charter school, a gross misdemeanor.

Edward Goldman, the district's associate superintendent of the Education Services Division, which oversees student expulsions, said principals are required to recommend a student be expelled when a student makes a general threat to damage a school.

Goldman said it's rare for a student to make threats against a district school using explosives, with such an incident occurring only one to three times a year.

Goldman indicated that a student who makes such threats could be sent to one of the district's three continuation schools for a minimum of one year. The alternative schools are for students who have been expelled from a traditional school, he said.

But Goldman added that all students are granted due process and receive the opportunity to present their side of the story.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or (702) 799-2922.