Springboro 12-year-old who made school threat will be allowed back in August

A Springboro student, now 12, convicted of making false alarms in May by “asking if he should use” a gun he falsely claimed was in his bag on a school bus will be allowed to return to school on Aug. 16.

The false school threat case is one of about 18 in Warren County since deadly school shootings this year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida and Santa Fe High School in Texas.

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To be permitted to enter Springboro Junior High next month, the student who made the May 18 threat will be required to meet conditions established by the district superintendent and included in the boy’s sentence earlier this week in Warren County Juvenile Court.

Rather than expel the student, who at the time attended the local intermediate school, Springboro Superintendent Dan Schroer said the district would require him “to write an article on the importance of appropriate behavior on the school bus.”

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Also in the June 7 letter attached to the boy’s court filings, Schroer said the boy “must research and write an article on why it is so important to not threaten other individuals — especially referring to having a weapon — to include what he has learned through this situation.”

The boy, who was suspended for three days, will also be required to complete 20 hours of community service at the district’s bus garage and comply with recommendations of a counselor regarding “issues he is having at school and especially his inability to tell the truth,” Schroer wrote in the letter.

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Monthly reports will be made to the school principal and court, and the family will be required to schedule and attend monthly meetings with Principal Jon Franks.

In addition, the boy is to join two clubs and is to be recommended for a leadership program at the junior high.

Springboro school officials declined to comment “at this time.”

Kirby also required the boy and his parents to attend a Nov. 5 compliance hearing in juvenile court, according to court records provided in response to a public records request.

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