Springboro student sends letters of apology for high-school threat

More than 1,000 students got notes mailed from prosecutor’s office

The student facing felony charges in connection with the bomb threat written on a bathroom wall, prompting the evacuation and closing of Springboro High School on successive days in April, has begun making amends to classmates and their families.

“I apologize for placing a bomb threat,” Andrew Stadler began notes mailed this week to more than 1,000 classmates by the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office.

Stadler indicated in the letter that he was despondent at the time and told his classmates not to “be afraid to ask for help.”

At Thursday’s school board meeting, Board Member Lisa Babb commended Stadler and County Prosecutor David Fornshell on the letter.

Stadler, 18, of Springboro is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 22 in Warren County Common Pleas Court. The letters are part of punishment agreed upon in the court case, according to school officials.

Stader was indicted in May on charges of inducing panic and making false alarms as school officials and emergency officials scrambled to respond to a series of more than 10 school threats made in the school districts serving Springboro, Lebanon and Waynesville.

The high school in Springboro was evacuated on April 27 and closed on April 28 while a contractor checked the school to ensure there was no threat to students, teachers and other school staff. The bomb threat also prompted school officials to cancel or postpone tests and other school events.

The other cases, involving students as young as 11, have all been disposed of in the county's juvenile court.

The children in these cases spent a week or more in detention, while awaiting a decision. They also wrote letters of apology in some of the cases.

Stadler has been free since being held for one day in the county's adult jail after his arrest on May 9, following an investigation by police and school officials.

The series of threats in April and May prompted warnings of potential consequences for the students and their parents from Fornshell. In 2015, Ohio led the nation in school threats, according to a consultant's study.

County offices were closed Friday for Veteran’s Day, and Fornshell could not be reached for comment.

Stadler’s sentencing would conclude the last of the cases.

In Springboro, since the threats, the school officials said they have not changed their policies on handling school threats.

But for the first time this year, grade-level meetings for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors included time with Fornshell.

“Mr. Fornshell also gave a similar presentation to all freshmen parents. We have found these presentations to be well received and very effective,” Kyle Martin, principal at Springboro High, said in an email in response to questions from this newspaper.

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