Students Stay Home After 2 Arrested in Terrorist Threats

Many worried parents kept their children home from Quartz Hill High School on Wednesday after the arrests of two students on suspicion of making terrorist threats.

“It hasn’t by any means been a normal day here,” said Linda Solcich, a spokeswoman for the Antelope Valley Union High School District, who said officials were besieged with calls from parents and the news media after Tuesday’s arrests.

The sprawling 2,400-student campus in a suburb of Lancaster is surrounded by tumbleweeds and horse ranches, and not much else. On Wednesday, however, the media swarmed. Satellite trucks set up camp across the street at 4:30 a.m., school officials said. Camera operators and TV reporters with microphones followed students in and out of school. One student said a crew tapped on her car window, begging for an interview.

One student said she feared going to school, but was ordered to do so by her parents. But she left in midmorning, saying she feared a bomb might explode.

Another student told classmates she was ordered to stay home by fearful parents, but came to school because she had a test.

The confusion and fear came in the wake of arrests Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. A 14-year-old youth was held on suspicion of making threats to blow up the school, and a 15-year-old had allegedly threatened to kill classmates.

Both were in a juvenile detention facility Wednesday.

Another 15-year-old was detained for possessing an inert hand grenade, but was released to the custody of his parents.

Adding to that, authorities said a 17-year-old student at Highland High School in Palmdale was arrested Wednesday after threatening to bring a shotgun to school to shoot fellow students.

The student made those threats in front of a teacher and other students after being told to quiet down in class, according to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Collin.

Officials at the school district said Wednesday that they had also suspended, with the possibility of expulsion, six other students for an undetermined amount of time because they made inappropriate remarks regarding school violence.

Authorities said they took such actions seriously in the wake of the April 20 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., where two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher before taking their own lives.

“It’s very weird and scary,” said Kamee Brown, 17. “School killings, it seems to be trendy, and it’s hard to know if someone is just joking around or serious.”

“I guess you could say I’m in the eccentric group,” said Brian McConnell-Higgins, who favors an all-black wardrobe. “I had someone say to me, ‘If you bomb the school, don’t kill me.’ I wouldn’t do that. But people talk about that kind of stuff a lot.”

Quartz Hill High administrators said a high percentage of parents kept their children home, but they did not have specific numbers. All day, they fielded calls from parents concerned about safety. Students attending classes worried too, with many seeking reassurance from teachers and counselors.

School officials said TV news reports added to the confusion by making it seem as if the three students arrested had conspired in an elaborate plan similar to the one executed in Colorado.

In fact, they said, the teenagers were arrested in separate incidents after fellow students, concerned about the Littleton tragedy, told school authorities of their comments.

Solcich and Quartz Hill Principal Barbara Willibrand said the school is 100% safe. Police have investigated and thoroughly searched the school. No bombs were found.

They said concerned parents should attend a meeting at 7:30 tonight in the high school’s gym.

The district, which also saw two 17-year-old students at Highland High in Palmdale arrested last week for inappropriate remarks--will hold two community forums on the issue next month.

“This is a good school,” said Nalja Grissom, 18, a senior. “I don’t understand why this is happening.”

Neither does Karen Mobilia, a Quartz Hill counselor. “I have no idea why students say they’re going to blow up the school or make bad jokes,” she said. “A lot do it to get attention, as a way of speaking out. But as a school, we won’t tolerate the threats or the jokes.”