Columbine scare cuts attendance

Terry Webster

Monday, April 23, 2001 | 10:41 a.m.

Clark County School District officials estimate student attendance dropped 50 percent on the anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School.

Schools throughout the nation braced Friday under threats of copycat violence.

"It's unfortunate that we've almost reached the point where we are making a national holiday out of April 20," Superintendent Carlos Garcia said. "Probably the best thing students could have done today was to be in class getting an education. They are much safer there than just about anywhere else, even at home or on their way to school."

In Clark County, three students were arrested Friday for making threats. In unrelated incidents, a knife and two pellet guns were confiscated from school campuses.

Also on Friday police investigated over 50 threatening rumors. None of them panned out.

On Thursday school district police arrested a Woodbury Middle School student after a rumor was reported that the 15-year-old eighth grader was planning to bring a gun to school on Friday, Clark County School Police Sgt. Ken Young said.

The boy and a friend fled after they were spotted at the school by a patrol officer Thursday afternoon. He and his 19-year-old companion were found at a home nearby about two hours later, Young said.

Seven stolen guns were found in the home, but the boy did not have a gun on him, school police said.

The boy was charged in connection with having the weapons and with harassment, school police said. He was placed in the juvenile detention center Thursday night.

School officials reported that telephone calls to the school police Operation Crime Free tip line quadrupled in the few days before Friday.

"We operate much like the security systems at our nation's airports -- don't even joke about it," school police Chief Elliott Phelps said.

Attendance at elementary schools looked about normal, but appeared to be down at secondary schools, Leonard Paul, assistant superintendent for secondary education, said.

Attendance at most high schools was estimated to be about 50 percent, although it varied by school, Paul said. Middle school attendance was between 50 percent and 70 percent.

Sun reporter

Kris Hill contributed to this story.