CUMBERLAND -- The drawing that shows flaming sticks , the word "bomb," and the words "CHS will pay" was meant as a joke, the 15-year-old student who drew it told the police.
But school officials and the police aren't taking it so lightly.
The student, a ninth grader at Cumberland High School, was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct on Thursday. He was suspended from school for 10 days. And his 1,500 fellow students and 300 faculty and staff members had to wait outside the school for an hour Thursday morning while the police searched the building.
He was arraigned in Family Court yesterday and, if found guilty, could be sentenced to up to six months at the state Training School, according to Cumberland police Detective Michael Strain.
At least one critic says the potential punishment would be too severe.
"This is another example of zero tolerance run amuck," said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. "It really is a shame to see school administrators responding in such a knee-jerk fashion."
Brown said the 10-day suspension is more appropriate than time at the Training School, where some youths are sentenced for crimes such as murder.
"What's being forgotten is the effect on the kids," Brown said. "There's certainly no grounds to arrest this kid or charge him with a criminal offense. That is clearly overkill."
But school authorities say there's no room for joking about bombs.
"We don't take any chances with students' safety," said principal John Scullin. "We do have to take these things seriously, and we have to send a message to the students that we're going to protect them."
The student, whom the police have declined to identify because of his age, drew the picture on another student's woodworking test Wednesday while correcting that student's test in shop class, Strain said.
According to the police report, the drawing contained:
The letter I, a heart, and a picture of a gun -- forming, essentially, the message "I love guns."
A stick figure with an arrow pointing to it, with the word "me" at the end of the arrow, and the word "die" circled next to it.
Sticks with flames on them, with the word "bomb" next to them, near a picture of a building, with the words "Cumberland High School" next to it.
The words "CHS will pay" written on the opposite side of the paper.
"It's not just a case of a kid doodling a picture of a bomb," said Detective Sgt. Albert Skeldon. "This was specific."
The police declined to release a copy of the drawing, saying the investigation is continuing.
The shop teacher discovered the drawing while grading the tests Wednesday night. The police, along with school administrators and the school psychologist, interviewed the teacher and the two students and decided to evacuate the school on Thursday morning.
Students, faculty and staff members waited outside while police officers, firefighters, and custodians searched the school, including the lockers.
The student facing charges told the police he had meant the doodling as a joke, a prank that would get the other student in trouble, according to the police report.
After his arraignment, the student was released to his parents. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for July 19, Strain said.
Before the student will be allowed to return to the high school, Schools Supt. Joseph M. Nasif Jr. said the School Department will need to determine that he is not a threat to others or to himself.
If safety concerns remain, Nasif said, the student may be placed in a private school for students expelled from public schools.
"Anyone that has a son or a daughter or who works at Cumberland High School would think that was the prudent thing to do," Nasif said. "We are expected to provide a 100-percent safe environment."
Nasif said the student did not have a significant record of behavioral or disciplinary problems. He said he was not familiar with the student's academic record.
Two weeks ago, a student at Rogers High School, in Newport, was charged with possessing explosives after other students reported that he had threatened to blow up the school. A judge reduced the charge Wednesday after it was discovered that the materials found at the boy's house were fireworks.
