Rio Hondo student suspended for on-campus threats
Posted: 11.29.2012 at 6:46 PM

A ninth grade male student at Rio Hondo High School was suspended after he allegedly posted threats on Facebook and wrote a threatening letter.

Although Rio Hondo Independent School District Superintendent Anneliese McMinn would not reveal the details of the letter, she said it was non-specific and was not a hit list.

However, some high school students tell Action 4, the word around campus is that the ninth grader made threats to shoot anyone who bullied him.

Oralia Jaure, outreach educator at the Family Crisis Center in Harlingen, said bullying is a serious issue happening in our schools.

"It’s because someone is getting hurt over and over, they become angry, it crosses over to anger and then it crosses over to violence," Jaure said.

Before it got to that point, administrators suspended the student from school for the rest of the week.

Students also tell Action 4 news, the student seemed like a happy teen and had friends.

However, Jaure said when teens are bullied, it can push them over the edge.

"I think it becomes very dangerous when he already has a plan - when there is a plan there is danger,” Jure said. “That's the way bullying is- he maybe himself was a victim, and he's fed up with it and now he's taking to another level."

McMinn said these types of threats are taken very seriously and the boy will be put in the Disciplinary Education Alternative Program for the rest of the school year.

Jaure hopes this student will also get the counseling he needs.

"Expelling the child…can be part of the solution, but in cannot be all the solution,” McMinn said. “They need to get help, they need to know what's going on with the child - people don’t just sit down and write threatening notes."