Panel calls for license suspension for bomb threat

AUGUSTA – License suspensions and restitution are among the ways to address an unprecedented number of bomb threats in Maine schools, a legislative panel said in a report released Monday.

The six-member committee also wants all schools in the state to adopt policies to deal with bomb threats.

In all, schools in 14 of Maine’s 16 counties received 193 threats last academic year, a number and frequency the study panel said the state had never experienced before.

Several high schools, including Calais, Portland, Mt. Blue in Farmington, Georges Valley in Thomaston and Bonny Eagle in Standish, received bomb threats on consecutive class days. Schools that were targets received threats two to six times during the school year.

The high number of threats was believed to have been prompted at least in part by publicity over the Columbine High School killings in Colorado and violent acts in schools in other states.

But some apparently were made by students who simply wanted to spend a day in a different school that a boyfriend or girlfriend attends, said Rep. Vaughn Stedman, R-Hartland, a member of the panel that began studying the problem in August.

During public hearings, students made it clear that “their lives are the ones that are really being disrupted” by threats, said Rep. John McDonough, chairman of the panel. “It was a personal affront to them.”

Teachers, administrators and others also testified at the hearings at Bonny Eagle, Cony High in Augusta and Brewer High School.

A major thrust of the report is to make those who call in bomb threats take responsibility for their actions and hit them where it hurts – taking away their driving privileges.

“Those licenses are very important to young people,” said McDonough, D-Portland.

The committee’s majority recommends passage of a new law to suspend driving privileges of anyone charged in bomb threats.

For a young person who is found guilty, the courts should be required to revoke or deny driving, hunting and other licenses until offenders turn 20.

The committee’s minority called for license suspensions of up to three years for anyone convicted of offenses related to a bomb threat.

The full panel said parents of juveniles who make bomb threats should be required to pay restitution of up to $10,000 for costs related to incidents.

Noting that some schools do not even have policies dealing with bomb threats, the committee wants all schools to be required to adopt protocols. The Department of Education would draft a model policy, but school districts would each be free to fashion their own.

All schools would also be required to report bomb threats they receive to the state. Not all have done so up to now.

The recommendations will be forwarded to appropriate committees in the newly elected Legislature so bills can be prepared for the next session.