6/11/09
A 13-year-old student who reportedly wrote a threatening message on a boy’s bathroom wall at Pierce Middle School last week will face juvenile charges in Quincy District Court.
Police said the boy, who was identified after a brief investigation, admitted to writing “I’m going to blow this school up tomorrow at 8 a.m.” on a bathroom wall near the end of the school day June 4. The incident led to the school being evacuated and several streets temporarily being shut down.
The incident was “thoughtless” and caused “a tremendous waste of limited public safety resources,” according to police.
The school was evacuated shortly after the threatening message was discovered around 2:30 p.m., police said. Bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in, the Department of Public Works shut down adjacent streets and Boston and Quincy police were called in to assist in searching the building.
According to a statement from police, detectives “quickly identified a 13-year-old male student at the school as the responsible party. He, in the presence of a parent, was interviewed at the police station where he confessed to writing the threat.”
Following the investigation, School Superintendent Mary Gormley released a statement via e-mail to parents that said, in part, “At no time was any student or staff member in danger.”
Gormley said teachers held an extended homeroom period to talk with students the morning following the incident.
“We just wanted them to know they’re safe every period of every day,” she said.
A play to be held at the middle school the evening of the bomb threat was cancelled, although a performance the following night went on as scheduled.
Gormley thanked responders for their “prompt and professional response and attention to this incident.”
“It was an unbelievable response,” she said.
Police already had responded to an earlier situation June 4 at Pierce.
A student reportedly carried a rock, concealed inside a tube sock, into the school and struck another student who was taunting him. The incident occurred about two hours before the bomb threat.
The student, a 13-year-old, was summonsed to court on juvenile assault and battery charges. The two events were unrelated, according to Deputy Police Chief Paul Nolan.
School Superintendent Mary Gormley would not comment on whether the rock incident was connected to the alleged attack of a teacher by a student. Sources have told the Times that a student knocked a teacher down and could be expelled.
Gormley, however, would not confirm if any expulsion is planned.

– Scott MacKeen