SCRANTON, Pa. -- A message posted by West Scranton senior Gina Ogden to her Facebook page makes a powerful plea for the bomb threats against the district's high schools to stop, writing: “Scranton School District West Scranton High School is this enough for you … Everyone's fearing for their own lives, as well as their friends and even family they have in that school. Parents are fearing for their children. Take action. Make a change.”
That post received a lot of attention and comes as yet another bomb threat was made to West Scranton High on Wednesday.
“Bomb threats like that, it can give kids anxiety and PTSD and make them fear coming to school when school should be a safe environment we can come to to get our education, so I just wanted to get it out there so people can be more aware of how serious these situations really are,” said Ogden.
The district has been dealing with several bomb threats at both Scranton and West Scranton high schools since last Thursday, disrupting classes and forcing evacuations.
Gina's friend sophomore Gavin Borie is fed up.
“Honestly I just want to pass math and I can't do that because we're not doing anything,” said Borie. “I think we did work in one class the entire day, so I've just been sitting in this building.”
Now authorities believe they have who's responsible for the bomb threats as the Lackawanna County District Attorney announced four students from Scranton and West Scranton high schools were arrested.
Investigators say two 15-year-old girls from Scranton High and a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old boy from West Scranton High will face felony charges of making terroristic threats.
Parents at a freshman football game between Scranton and West are relieved.
“Thank God,” said Melissa Shea, who has two children at West Scranton Intermediate School. ‘Because my two, they don't even go to high school, and they were scared to go to school because the intermediate school's right behind the high school, and every time the kids get out of school, they to the intermediate school.”
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office says it helped with this investigation, saying in a statement, "Our students deserve a safe place to learn free from the threat of violence."