Two students suspended from Batavia High School last week are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for their alleged roles in setting off a bottled “chemical bomb” in a school hallway before the holiday break.
Steven C. Nielsen, 17, of 964 Millview Drive and Scott L. Gilbert, 17, of 1682 Sauk Drive, have been charged with reckless conduct, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and a $1,000 fine upon conviction.
On Thursday, the Batavia Unit School District 100 Board of Education met in closed session for more than three hours before deciding to suspend Nielson for 20 days and Gilbert for 10 days for their roles in the prank.
School officials declined to discuss details in the case, choosing to identify the two juniors by student identification number rather than by name. The expulsions were scheduled to begin immediately.
“The board made a decision that it felt was a measured response to the degree of the misbehavior,” District 101 Supt. Ed Cave said. “Our policy calls for this kind of action in response to gross misconduct.”
“It was not an easy decision to make,” Board member Ted Schuster said. “Our actions speak for themselves.”
According to police, Nielson and Gilbert allegedly mixed several common chemicals with water in an empty plastic soda bottle, then placed the bomb in a school hallway at about lunchtime Dec. 17, the last day of classes before the holiday break.
The mixture exploded in a violent chemical reaction, sounding to witnesses like a gunshot. Although no one was injured, several people complained of watery, burning eyes caused by the fumes, police said.
Although the two suspects are teenagers, they will be tried as adults in in the Kane County Circuit Court.