AVON LAKE — A 14-year-old Avon Lake High School student was suspended for 10 days Friday and may face expulsion after she wrote a threatening message in a second-floor bathroom stall.

Students and staff spent an hour under lockdown after the message was reported while school officials verified the message and assessed the threat. The school was locked down from a little after 11 a.m. until 12:20 p.m.

Superintendent Bob Scott said the message claimed the girl had a gun in the school and it “threatened everyone” and included Friday’s date.

The girl, whose name Scott wouldn’t release, will face an expulsion hearing within the next 10 days. She was also charged by the police, Scott said.

“There was no weapon in the school ever,” Scott said. “It was just something she’d written on the wall.”

Hallway surveillance cameras led to the girl’s identity. She confessed when questioned by police, Scott said, adding her mother was also notified and brought to the school.

Avon Lake Police Lt. Duane Streeter said lockdown means making sure all students are in a room with the doors locked, lights off and no student visible through the windows. State law requires schools to practice lockdown situations.

“We had actually practiced ours earlier this week,” Scott said.

The lockdown lasted until police and school officials found the student responsible and made sure there wasn’t a gun on school grounds.

“We weren’t going to come out of (lockdown) until we were positive the kids and the staff were safe,” Scott said.

Several students were very upset once it became clear to them Friday’s incident wasn’t a drill.

“Disruption of the day is the least of it,” Scott said of the lockdown. “We’ve had a few kids we’ve had to take to counselors and had a few that were crying. We reassured everyone that they’d been safe the whole time, but it bothers them. For that hour that they were there, they didn’t know what’s going on and they didn’t feel safe and that’s what’s really hard about this.”

Scott said he wasn’t aware of the girl’s motivation for writing the message.

“I wasn’t in as they went through the complete discussion for that,” he said. “I don’t know if she told anybody why or not.”

Scott said incidents like Friday’s have lasting effects.

“Most of the kids every day, they do wonderfully,” he said. “Everybody has kids with issues. Something like this that just pulls away from that overall good feeling kids have about the school just makes it more difficult to educate kids the next day.”

Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.

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