VERO BEACH — Absenteeism has doubled at Vero Beach High School in the last week with bomb threats starting off four school days.

And for many students who did show up for school this week, the decision came after a serious conversation at home.

“My daughter tried not to go Monday because of the Columbine anniversary,” parent Darby Dickerson said. “But I told her you can’t let two dead folks from 10 years ago stop you.”

Monday’s absentee rate reached 35 percent when 657 of the school’s 1,880 students failed to show up, said Patty Vasquez, district spokeswoman. Tuesday’s enrollment figures were not available, she said.

Dickerson’s daughter was among the hundreds of VBHS students sent to the Citrus Bowl Tuesday when another bomb threat was called in.

Each time officers from the police department and bomb-sniffing bloodhounds from the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office have combed the expansive, two-story school on 16th Street in Vero Beach — leaving students out of two classes and representing one hour of each day they have been out.

As the bomb threats continue, many students have opted to leave the campus rather than evacuate to the football stadium. As to whether this would be considered an excused absence, Vasquez said the school was dealing with it on a case-by-case basis.

Dickerson said her daughter will go to class Wednesday but will be attending a theater competition in Tampa the rest of the week.

“If she can get through Wednesday, she’ll be fine,” Dickerson said. “But I consider every one of her friends like one of my own, so I’m still concerned as a parent. There’s five weeks left in the school year. It’s down to the wire.”

School Superintendent Harry La Cava and Principal Jane Hudson said Tuesday the time out of school won’t affect graduation or grades. Teachers are working on making up the time, Hudson said.

Yet the level of frustration is high, Hudson said as she stood outside the school with La Cava, Sheriff Deryl Loar and Vero Beach Police Chief Donald Dappen. Tuesday’s bomb threat was the sixth since March 3. All have been phoned in around the start of school, officials said.

Investigators won’t release details of the investigation, but Luther said all the threats are related. He attributed the incidents to “someone grandstanding, wanting to get publicity.”

When an arrest is made, said Loar, “We will be making an example” of the person or persons.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have been called in to help the Sheriff’s Office’s investigation. The state is also raising the reward money to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of someone in the case.

“We’ve followed up on several leads and we’re using every resource available,” Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Jeff Luther said.

Anyone with information should call sheriff’s Detective Kevin Heinig at (772) 978-6121 or Crimestoppers at (800) 273-TIPS (8477).

HIGH SCHOOL BOMB THREATS

• It’s rare for a bomb to be set off or found in a school, but officials nationwide prepare for the threat.

• On April 20, 2008, a high school senior in Chesterfield, S.C., was charged in connection with a plot to conduct a bomb attack on his school. The male reportedly had detailed his plans, which included his suicide, in a journal that included maps of the school. His parents called the police when 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate was delivered to their home and they found their son’s journal.

• In August 2007, five teenagers in Keizer, Ore., were charged in connection with a plot to threaten their high school with a bomb. The plot was discovered after a break-in at their high school where the teens allegedly stole chemicals such as ammonium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide, chemicals reportedly cited in publications on how to build bombs.

• A bomb exploded in the assistant principal’s office at an education center in Leavenworth, Kan., in September 2007. No one was injured. The incident is one of the last reported cases of a bomb detonating in a school.

Source: schoolsecurity.org

A THREAT TO ATTENDANCE

• Vero Beach High School has been evacuated each of the last four school days for bomb threats.

• Monday, more than one-third of Vero Beach High School students, 657 of 1,880, were reported absent at the end of the day.

• Friday, 527 students were absent

• Thursday, 588 students were absent

• In comparison, the school averaged about 340 absent students, or 18 percent, on any given day in March.

Source: Indian River County School District

Staff writers Elliott Jones and Colleen Wixon contributed to this report.

By Lamaur Stancil

Tags: arrest, beach, break-in, chief, deputies, deputy, education, federal, fines, Florida, football, informant, money, parents, police, raise, raises, reward, Schools, Shell, sheriff, stole, students, suicide, superintendent, teacher, teachers, teen, teens

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