Threats

South teacher asked to leave campus

A South Albany High School teacher was asked to leave campus this week after allegedly making a threatening comment about Principal Chris Equinoa and mentioning the massacre at Virginia Tech.

A district investigation into the comments is a “personnel matter” and thus confidential, Maria Delapoer, director of human resources for Greater Albany Public Schools, said Friday.

Albany police are working on a report about the incident that led to the teacher’s removal but do not at this point think anything criminal occurred, said Capt. Eric Carter.

The comments under investigation allegedly were made by a first-year Spanish teacher, Lourdes Rios Sylvestre. Sylvestre, a full-time teacher, was hired at the start of the current school year. She does not have a listed telephone number and could not be reached for comment.

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Thursday morning, Principal Equinoa called Officer Ken Fandrem, the school resource officer, and said he had been the target of a threatening comment.

Carter said Equinoa told Fandrem the school would handle the incident internally but wanted the officer to be available if necessary.

Fandrem stayed in South’s main office area that morning while school officials spoke with Sylvestre. He did not formally escort her from the building but “made sure she got in her car and left,” Carter said.

“We learned afterwards that Wednesday afternoon, the teacher made comments to co-workers about wanting to kill Chris Equinoa,” Carter said. He said Sylvestre also was alleged to have said something about understanding “how a Virginia Tech-type situation happens.”

More Gun Threats

Timberlane High teacher charged with gun threa

--A Timberlane Regional High School teacher was arrested in school on a charge of threatening to hurt school district employees or administrators, police said.
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Steven Paul Marchand, 47, of Nashua, was charged with criminal threatening and disorderly conduct Thursday after the school resource officer learned he had made a general threat a day earlier, police said. He was being held on $5,000 cash bail.

"Marchand had made a threatening statement directed towards school personnel," Detective Sgt. Patrick Caggiano said. "The statement made by Marchand involved the use of a handgun."

Police said at least one student overheard the threat as Marchand spoke to another teacher. Marchand's car and home were searched, but no weapon was found, Caggiano said.

The school Web site identifies Steven Marchand as a special education teacher.

Teacher Prompts School Lock-Down

This doesnt happen everyday...

Angry about a disciplinary action, Sacred Heart High School math teacher James Kennedy tossed books and furniture around a faculty lounge before quitting in a fit of rage, police said.

Authorities say Kennedy, 29, then fired off a torrent of threatening e-mails to a fellow teacher and three female students, prompting a lock-down of the school and his own arrest on Thursday afternoon.

‘‘You’re going down, b---,’’ he wrote to a female colleague in one of the e-mails that a prosecutor read aloud Friday in Plymouth District Court. ‘‘You f--- with the wrong person. You’re f--- going down, you zero. I’m going to make your life a nightmare.’’

Kennedy was charged with threatening to bomb or hijack a school, causing serious public alarm.