DANVERS - Junior Gerald "Gerry" Maher is barred from Danvers High School - and any public or private school - following his arrest last week on charges he threatened to blow up Danvers High.
That was part of the judge's orders stemming from threats Maher, 17, made during class to a teacher who repeatedly warned him to stop.
High school Principal Mark Strout said yesterday that it distresses him to deny education to Maher, but the school had no choice but to report the threats to police as part of the school's crisis-intervention plan, which administrators "followed to the letter," he said.
"We can't ignore anything like that, especially when the kid said it more than once," said Strout, who noted tragedies like the Virginia Tech and Columbine High School massacres have heightened the sensitivity to school security.
"We don't want to deny anybody an education," Strout said during an interview in his office. "We advocate for kids every single day, but we can't ignore statements like that."
Police said they don't believe Maher had the means to carry out the threat but were concerned because he continued to make the threat even after being warned. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday to one count of making criminal threats.
Some of Maher's fellow students at Danvers High said the judge's warning that he stay 500 feet away from any and all high schools was too strict.
"He shouldn't have said those things," said sophomore Laura Burke, interviewed outside the school yesterday afternoon, "but I don't think he should have been arrested. They searched his house, and it's obvious he wasn't going to blow up the school."
At the arraignment in Salem District Court, Judge Robert Cornetta ordered Maher held on $10,000 cash bail, which was posted Saturday, releasing the teenager from Middleton Jail. Cornetta warned that if Maher made bail, he must stay 500 feet away from any private or public high school, obey a 9:30 p.m. curfew, report to a probation officer and take part in any counseling his probation officer recommends.
"I understand getting suspended, but he didn't need to get arrested," said Kristiana Koutsos, a sophomore.
Others, who did not want to be named, said Maher was wrong not to back off when warned, but that denying him a high school diploma could "ruin his life."
That was part of the judge's orders stemming from threats Maher, 17, made during class to a teacher who repeatedly warned him to stop.
High school Principal Mark Strout said yesterday that it distresses him to deny education to Maher, but the school had no choice but to report the threats to police as part of the school's crisis-intervention plan, which administrators "followed to the letter," he said.
"We can't ignore anything like that, especially when the kid said it more than once," said Strout, who noted tragedies like the Virginia Tech and Columbine High School massacres have heightened the sensitivity to school security.
"We don't want to deny anybody an education," Strout said during an interview in his office. "We advocate for kids every single day, but we can't ignore statements like that."
Police said they don't believe Maher had the means to carry out the threat but were concerned because he continued to make the threat even after being warned. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday to one count of making criminal threats.
Some of Maher's fellow students at Danvers High said the judge's warning that he stay 500 feet away from any and all high schools was too strict.
"He shouldn't have said those things," said sophomore Laura Burke, interviewed outside the school yesterday afternoon, "but I don't think he should have been arrested. They searched his house, and it's obvious he wasn't going to blow up the school."
At the arraignment in Salem District Court, Judge Robert Cornetta ordered Maher held on $10,000 cash bail, which was posted Saturday, releasing the teenager from Middleton Jail. Cornetta warned that if Maher made bail, he must stay 500 feet away from any private or public high school, obey a 9:30 p.m. curfew, report to a probation officer and take part in any counseling his probation officer recommends.
"I understand getting suspended, but he didn't need to get arrested," said Kristiana Koutsos, a sophomore.
Others, who did not want to be named, said Maher was wrong not to back off when warned, but that denying him a high school diploma could "ruin his life."
Maher is due back in court June 12. In the meantime, the Danvers school administration plans to determine how and if they can continue to educate Maher in some capacity, Superintendent Lisa Dana said.
"It's Monday, and everything happened on Friday," Dana said during an interview in her office at the high school yesterday. "There are meetings planned, and we're working with the high school administration to look at the next steps."
When asked how Maher's arrest is affecting his mother, Margaret Maher, who is an employee of the Danvers Public Schools and teaches kindergarten and first grade at Great Oak School, Dana said, "No comment."
It was during a lesson on circuit analysis in teacher Robert Ellis' classroom Wednesday when Gerry Maher allegedly made the threat to blow up the school, according to a police report. Ellis suggested that he might not want to make such threats, given the sensitivity people have to the subject.
But Maher said it two more times and told his teacher he would not get in trouble because police wouldn't find any weapons at his home, prompting Ellis to go to the assistant principal, Strout said.
That afternoon, police questioned Maher, who was at home with his sister.
"It's stupid," he allegedly told officers. But then, "He stated that he wasn't crazy and that he would do it," according to the report. Maher then cut off the questioning.
Police got a warrant for Maher's arrest and went to his home Friday morning to take him into custody. School officials said they were concerned because Maher has in the past expressed interest in weaponry and in the military.
When reached by telephone at his family's home yesterday afternoon at 195 Maple St., Maher said he had no comment on the charges against him.
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