Fredericktown student held after making threats at school

A female student at Fredericktown High School has been placed in juvenile detention after classmates found written threats traced to her in a study hall.

The Knox County Prosecutor’s office and Fredericktown schools Superintendent M.W. Chrispin reported that students on Monday found several small pieces of paper bearing threats to the school and students involving explosives and weapons.

School officials notified police who, along with school personnel, “quickly determined the alleged author” of the notes, according to an update Chrispin sent to parents.

The K-12 school building has video surveillance throughout, said Chrispin. Cameras in the library converted for study hall use helped identify the girl.

Knox County Prosecutor Chip McConville said there were threats about “bombs and shooting the school” on hand-written scraps of paper. Authorities have not identified the girl because she has not been charged.

“Unfortunately, every time something happens when there’s a school shooting, you get copycat sort of behavior,” McConville said. “The challenge is to separate the squirrelly teenagers from ones who are the real threat.”

Schools are forced to take each threat seriously, and literally, in light of recent mass shootings, including the deaths of 17 last week in Parkland, Florida, officials said.

“We look into every one of them,” Fredericktown Police Chief Roger Brown said. “You never know why these kids are doing what they do these days.”

“With each incident, we learn more about the types of attacks and what responses work best,” Chrispin wrote, noting that he will review the response to determine “what we did well and what we might improve.”

On Friday, a 17-year-old was arrested in Wayne County and charged with aggravated menacing after officials found a death threat he had left on a shared school computer drive. It was the latest in a number of other threats at Orrville and Wooster high schools.

McConville said charges against the Knox County girl could range from menacing to inducing panic on school grounds, a felony.

He said the student had no juvenile court history. She will be held in the Muskingum County Juvenile Detention Center until at least March 2, according to Knox County court personnel.

Chrispin, superintendent for five years, said Fredericktown High School has been “on edge” since the Parkland shootings.

“The student needs help,” he said. “They’re still going to grow up and be productive. We still have a responsibility to make sure that happens ... to fix them.”