Judge Upholds School's Expulsion Over ‘Joke' Death Threat

Teen says that the threat he wrote on a classroom whiteboard was a joke. Judge did not agree.

A judge says a central Pennsylvania school district was within its rights to expel a student over a death threat the teen insists was a joke.

The court declined Thursday to overturn the expulsion of Middletown Area High School senior Scott Wiestling despite the teen's assertion he was only kidding when he scrawled the threat on a classroom whiteboard.

School officials say the 17-year-old Wiestling was expelled in October after another teacher reported the written threat, saying Wiestling also said aloud he planned to kill his former English teacher.

Wiestling's attorney argued his client simply made a very poor joke. A lawyer for the district says the school cannot risk endangering its staff.

Wiestling's lawyer tells The Patriot-News of Harrisburg the family will consider an appeal to Commonwealth Court.
 
     

 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us