Bomb threats at schools

Even top school administrators can't escape bomb threats.

Dr. Dana Bedden experienced one on his first day of school in Richmond County.

It happened on August 13.

Bedden, who had taken the reins of the school system in Augusta less than two weeks earlier, had just arrived at Glenn Hills Middle School for a visit when it happened.

"I'm pulling up to one of our middle schools and they were just going through a bomb threat, evacuations, as soon as I pulled into the parking lot." He said he hoped "that this is not an indication of what the year's going to look like, that we're not going to have a repeat of last year."

The Richmond County school system reported numerous bomb threats last year. Officials say 70 of those threats occurred at only two schools.

A bomb threat also happened at a high school in Jefferson, Georgia, in October, just as Kathy Cox, the state schools superintendent, was paying a visit there.

State schools take on bomb threats

Officials in Augusta say their schools are getting far too many bomb threats.

They're joining school boards across the state in an effort to punish the parents of students who make those threats.

Officials say 70 bomb threats came in to schools alone in Richmond County last year.

The public safety response to each threat typically costs the county about $4000 to $8000.

The Georgia School Boards Association says bomb threats are a problem across the state.

Now, they want the legislature to pass a law holding parents accountable for a student's terroristic threats, school violence and theft.

"When we're taking and diverting resources from safety personnel to respond to a false alarm, that means someone else is not getting service and we are passing on a burden of cost to taxpayers that shouldn't be there, because of something that was not a real issue to them," says Dana Bedden, the Richmond County school superintendent.

The threats also disrupt classes, since principals often evacuate the students.

Suspects are often students, according to officials with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

In Richmond County, officials say some of the suspects are middle schoolers.

Richmond schools to use aerosol spray to detect drugs

A school system in the eastern Georgia city of Augusta plans to use a unique method for identifying students who use illegal drugs. Here's how it works: Coat a desk or a locker with aerosol spray. If the object turns a different color, the student may be using illegal drugs.

Richmond County school officials say using the spray would be less intrusive than bringing in police dogs or conducting urine tests. It can detect marijuana, cocaine, heroin and amphetamines.

"We could actually, rather than testing the student, we may opt to go to their locker," said Dr. Dana Bedden, Richmond County's school superintendent. "It could be a parent who comes to the school and say I may be concerned that my child might be involved, and we can offer a resource to them to say do you have any of their clothing or anything that you may want to have us test."

The spray is part of a research study funded by the federal government.

Richmond superintendent urges calm

A school superintendent in eastern Georgia says staff members and medical personnel are doing everything they can to prevent students, teachers and employees from getting staph infection. But he's urging the public not to panic.

Richmond County's superintendent, Dana Bedden, said in a news conference today that officials are disinfecting schools. They're also repeatedly teaching children about personal hygiene.

Bedden told reporters in Augusta that many parents have called his office, worried their children might get a deadly disease. But he stressed that the staph, called MRSA, is very treatable.

"We've got some overreaction here," said Bedden. "People are treating people like they've got the plague. No child, no person, needs to be treated in that manner. It is treatable. It is manageable if people follow the instructions that are given by the health officials."

Bedden announced that an elementary school student is the fourth person in the Richmond County school system to have MRSA.

Officials in nearby Columbia County say 12 students there have had the infection.

Three in Richmond County diagnosed with staph

Three people in the Richmond County school system have been diagnosed with staph infection, according to school officials in Augusta. Dana Bedden, the school superintendent, says in a letter to parents today that the Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcous Aureus (MRSA) was confirmed in an individual at Glenn Hills Middle School, another at Blythe Elementary School, and a third at the Richmond County Board of Education administration building. The letter did not specify if the individuals were students, teachers or school system staff members. The letter also said that "all students and staff who have confirmed cases of staph infection are expected to remain home until they are able to provide a physician's notice indicating they may return to school and/or work." Custodial staff, meanwhile, are cleaning areas where the infected people might have been. Staph infections can cause serious illness and even death among people with compromised immune systems or who don't get treatment. Serious staph infections are often found in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Community-based MRSA, the infection reported in Richmond schools, often presents as a simple skin infection. This type of infection is resistant to common antibiotics such as penicillin, but is treatable with other medications. Health officials say community based MRSA is on the rise. Officials in the Columbia County school system say 12 students in nine schools there have been diagnosed with MRSA during the last two weeks. For more information, go to www.rcboe.org or www.cdc.gov.