Police Say 2 Boys Tried to Poison Teacher : Crime: The 15-year-olds are accused of putting rat poison in the man’s coffee. He was suspicious and did not drink from the cup.

Two students at a private high school in Santa Monica have been accused of trying to kill a teacher by pouring rat poison into his coffee cup when he wasn’t looking.

Wilshire West School teacher Harlan Tarbell, 37, escaped harm because he noticed what looked like pencil shavings floating in his coffee and dumped it without taking a sip, police said.

Students at the school, which specializes in teaching children with a history of behavior problems, later told Tarbell that two of their classmates had tried to poison him, police said.

Police are waiting for lab results on residue taken from the coffee cup and a foil packet but said one of the boys told other students that the substance was poison.

The incident took place June 11, but Santa Monica police did not disclose it until this week.

“We really didn’t want to plant the seed in other students’ minds at other schools that if they were unhappy with their grades at year’s end that this might be a solution to their problems,” Sgt. Bill Brucker said.

Wilshire West has an enrollment of about 65 students, most of whom have demonstrated some sort of antisocial behavior and were referred by public school districts across the county.

Principal and founder Mark Mitock said the school has its share of fistfights, but that this was the most serious incident since it opened 20 years ago.

Police arrested two 15-year old boys, whose names were not released because of their age, and charged them with attempted murder, Brucker said. A hearing in Inglewood Juvenile Court is set for Monday.

One youth, from West Los Angeles, allegedly brought the poison to school and recruited a second youth, from Santa Monica, to pour it into the coffee, Brucker said.

Students said the first youth showed them a bottle cap wrapped in foil containing what he said was a mixture of rat poison, an anti-depressant drug and chili powder, police said, adding that the student said he planned to use it to kill Tarbell.

While Tarbell was in the hallway speaking to another teacher, the second youth poured the mixture into the coffee, police said.

Tarbell returned, noticed his coffee had been tampered with and poured it out. He chastised the class for what he thought was a practical joke.

Police said that Tarbell, who could not be reached for comment, told them he could not think of what would provoke the youths to try to hurt him. The youth who brought the mixture refused to say why he did it and the recruited youth said he did not know what was in the powder, according to police.

Tarbell was shaken but will continue to teach, Mitock said.

“Many of these kids have poor social judgment and don’t think things through,” Mitock said. “We as a staff generally have to be very wary.”

Both boys earned average to above-average grades and were active in intramural sports, Mitock said.

Brucker said the youth who allegedly brought the poison to school does not have a police record. The second youth is on probation for a sex offense, he said.