The following article was selected from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding---------------- Article forwarded by: Cayata Dixon Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,SAV-0104200201,FF.html ---Forwarded article---------------- COLUMBINE ANNIVERSARY PUTS CHICAGO-AREA SCHOOLS ON ALERT By Amanda Vogt, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Ray Quintanilla, Leann Spencer, Stan Ziemba and... On the second anniversary of the Columbine school shootings, many Chicago-area schools are increasing security Friday in response to threats of violence, while weighing the likelihood that most of those threats are nothing more than pranks. At Emmons School near Antioch, Lake County sheriff's deputies will search students' backpacks Friday. The school, which has 370 pupils in kindergarten through 8th grade, was closed for two days this week after messages about a bomb were found scrawled on a boys bathroom wall, Principal Cynthia Vandrush said. Students in Waukegan will encounter more police on campuses Friday, after three Waukegan High School students were arrested last week for making bomb threats and detonating small explosive devices at the school, officials said. And in Chicago, schools chief Paul Vallas said he plans to issue an alert to each of the system's 600 schools next week. The April 20, 1999, shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in which 15 people were killed, along with more recent school violence, has prompted school officials to carefully consider their response to threats of violence, even if the threats seem to lack credibility. With rumors of violence cropping up in schools throughout the area, school officials find themselves torn between ignoring the Columbine anniversary to avoid encouraging pranksters and acknowledging parents' and students' fears of violence. "Bomb threats and false fire alarms accelerate around finals time near the end of the school year," Waukegan District 60 Supt. G. Robert Kurtz said. The majority of these threats turn out to be without merit, like last week's incident involving an e-mail threat to a student at Woodland Middle School in Gages Lake, officials said. But in the west suburbs, school officials on Thursday were largely in agreement that the "airline standard" will be applied when it comes to threats. In other words, not even an offhand comment or a joking remark about violence will be tolerated. Some districts stepped up security to reassure parents and students that their schools are going to be kept safe. And many administrators said worried parents may keep their children home for the day. In Skokie, a 16-year-old Niles North High School student was petitioned to juvenile court Thursday after being accused of posting fliers in the school threatening armed violence there Friday. In Carol Stream, officials for Community Consolidated School District 93 were grappling Thursday with the effects of an instant e-mail message that had been interpreted by a middle school student as a possible threat. It was determined later that the e-mail from the student was an expression of worry that somebody might bring a gun to Stratford Middle School on the anniversary of the Columbine shooting. Other districts are taking a low-key approach to the anniversary. "We're going to just ignore it and hope it goes by without notice," Libertyville District 70 Supt. Mark R. Friedman said. Roycealee J. Wood, assistant regional superintendent of Lake County schools, said many school districts won't take additional security precautions Friday, in part because security already is higher than it was before Columbine. Others echoed that sentiment. "Certainly we won't ignore the significance of the Columbine anniversary," said Joe Schlender, principal of Conant High School in Hoffman Estates. "But we're going to continue the high security that we do here on a regular basis." Elsewhere, however, officials are taking steps to minimize any threats during the anniversary. School officials at the Troy Middle School in Shorewood near Joliet and Morris Community High School in Morris have arranged to have extra police at their schools for the day. -- This is the CPS Science Teacher List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
