Just to play devil's advocate. When I was maybe 9 or 10 I wrote something in a notebook about wanting to poison my brother and kill him. Now from an adult perspective we might say I was a psychotic little serial killer in the making. However when it was found the biggest fear I had was being labeled a mental case, or being treated differently, for something that was just me venting frustration. I didn't know what else to do and I guess that type of escapism in my notebook helped me. After that I never did it again. As a kid I was testing limits too.

We can talk about this day and age and yea it's impossible to know if a threat is serious. I guess it just comes down to if you think this person is literally going to try and kill you. It's impossible to find the right balance but I do think admin isn't wrong to still consider the best outcome for the child. Because if it was just venting, if it was testing limits, if it was her not fully comprehending the consequences of her words (and what kid does), is that worth putting her in jail or upending her academic life or whatever else? But then a teacher gets shot dead someplace and people want to say that argument is null and void. It's impossible