Teacher’s Car Was Target : 2 Suspended; Brought Bombs to School

Two seventh-graders who brought homemade bombs to school to blow up the car of a teacher have been suspended.

“They didn’t intend to hurt anyone, just the car,” said Kenneth Mabe, superintendent of Madison Middle School. He said the boys “didn’t realize how dangerous it could be.”

One of the students was expelled for the rest of the school term and the other was suspended for 30 days. Both students will be on probation until they are graduated or leave Boone County schools, Mabe said.

Mabe said Friday one of the students apparently built two or three of the bombs, using small tin cans, some sort of petroleum, gunpowder and matches. A custodian found the bombs above the ceiling tile in a bathroom at the middle school in February and took them to Principal Joe Tegliente.

During a hearing held for the students this month, it was learned that they intended to place the bombs in or near a teacher’s car. Mabe said the teacher had reported one of the students for getting into trouble in the past and the student had promised to take revenge.

The superintendent did not identify the two students, who he said are 13 and 15 years old.

“We’ve had no real past troubles with these boys, nothing really serious. I don’t believe the boys knew this was this severe,” Mabe said.

The superintendent said the bombs had been hidden in the bathroom for as long as three weeks before they were found but did not represent any real danger to the school.

“I don’t believe they were dangerous just sitting there. They wouldn’t ignite unless someone caused them to,” he said.