All quiet following school protest

Friday, March 23, 2001 | 11:18 a.m.

All was quiet this morning at a local high school campus one day after more than 200 of the school's 1,700 students walked out in protest over the return of a fellow student who is alleged to have threatened classmates last month.

The incident at Vo-Tech High School lasted from 7 a.m. to about 9 a.m. Thursday and ended with a number of students returning to classes or leaving the campus, officials said.

Clark County School District officials said they talked with students at the school Thursday afternoon to assure them that safety is a priority.

An assistant principal at the school said today it was a quiet morning on campus with students reporting to classes.

At issue is a senior male student who in February allegedly made threats against classmates.

The school district has a "zero tolerance" policy regarding threats, especially in the wake of student-involved school shootings nationwide, including two recent incidents in California.

School officials, however, said punishment for each incident has to be addressed on its merits. In this case, school officials said, the offending student had been "removed from school" and had returned this week.

School officials said they were continuing to review the situation. They could not comment on whether the protesters would be disciplined, but one school district official said "it was not an excused absence."