Gun threat closes Cass City Public Schools - WFXG FOX54 Augusta - Your News One Hour Earlier

Gun threat closes Cass City Public Schools

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By Bill Walsh, TV5 Reporter - bio | email
By Tom Plahutnik, Web Editor/Producer - email
Parents gathered at the Cass City High School gym Monday night. Parents gathered at the Cass City High School gym Monday night.
TUSCOLA COUNTY, MI (WNEM) -

Cass City Public Schools are closed for the rest of this calendar year in response to a threat made by a student.

WNEM TV5 Reporter Erik Horn talked with Cass City Schools Superintendent Jeff Hartel who informed us that he received word of a possible threat on Saturday.

Hartel said a concerned parent of a child within the district had alerted him to the student's plan.

The student in question is new to the district and allegedly made the threat last week while riding on the bus and in the school cafeteria.  It is unclear if the student is in police custody of if he is in the care of his parents. He is described as a 16-year-old freshman.

Authorities said the student denied making the threats, but police interviewed the five to 10 students who heard the threat and their stories lined up.

Hartel intends to meet with the Tuscola County prosecutor to discuss what punishment may be involved.

In the interest of student safety, regularly scheduled classes from Monday through Wednesday are now canceled.  The holiday break starts early, and school will be back in session the first week of January.  

A special Board of Education meeting was scheduled for Monday night to decide what to do about the student accused of making the threat.

That meeting was scheduled for 6 p.m. inside the Cass City High School gym.

Hartel said he does not know yet if the three missed days will count as snow days, which would have to be made up, or if the local ISD will "relieve" them, meaning they don't have to be made up.

Right now there's no word if criminal charges will be brought against the student. As for discipline, Hartel said after Monday night's forum, the school board has a regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m. At the end of that meeting, officials will go into closed session to discuss suspected student's discipline.

At the conclusion of that session, board will come out and announce what they decided.

Officials have found no evidence that the student made a threat on Facebook, or any other social networking site.


Copyright 2012 WNEM (Meredith Corporation).  All rights reserved.

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