BATH – After a series of bomb threats this fall, the Bath school system has turned to the chief justice of Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court for help to try to ease the problem.

Chief Justice Daniel Wathen will speak Tuesday, Dec. 5, to student assemblies at Morse High School and the Bath Middle School about the long-term consequences to students of making bomb threats.

Wathen said he plans to tell the students about mistakes he made when he was their age growing up in Aroostook County.

“I was a bit of a rebel when I was a student,” Wathen said. “It will be about my lessons learned from my own experience. I think people react to it because of the shock factor.”

Wathen was invited to Bath by School Superintendent William Michaud, who heard the judge address Hall Dale High School students.

Bath is not alone in trying to contain bomb threats. Students in Sanford were recently arrested for making threats. And a series of threats last year at Bonny Eagle High School in Standish helped lead to the formation of a legislative committee to study the issue.

The Bath Board of Education has expelled three students, ranging in age from 10 to 16, in connection with recent bomb threats. A fourth student faces an expulsion hearing next month and is being held at the Maine Youth Center.

All the students have been charged by police with terrorizing, a felony punishable by probation, 30 days in jail or detention at the Maine Youth Center.

So far no bombs have been found, but schools have been evacuated and classes canceled, lengthening the school year, Michaud said recently. If classes continue to be canceled again due to bomb threats, the school year will get even longer, delaying graduation.

“I’m not sure these kids understand the consequences of their actions,” said police Detective Donald Marsh, who interviewed three of the students charged in the bomb threats.

The psychological motivation for students who make bomb threats varies, experts say. In most cases, the threats are made by students who are not part of the mainstream. They might be trying to get someone’s attention, to impress their friends by defying authority figures, or to get a day off from school.

“In general, the kids who call in these threats are on the fringe,” said Ken Nye, an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Southern Maine. “They’re kids who have a hard time finding a niche. For them, school is a dismal experience.”

“My gut feeling is these kids are not evil,” Nye added. “They’ve been caught doing a stupid thing.”

State Rep. John McDonough, D-Portland, says the Committee to Study Bomb Threats in Maine Schools will recommend that the Legislature target privileges that students covet.

Students convicted of a threat might also be required to apologize in public to a student assembly at their school, said McDonough, who co-chaired the committee.

“My sense is we don’t want to be throwing these kids into the Maine Youth Center on their first offense,” he said.