DIXFIELD – Two Dirigo High School students, arrested Tuesday for bringing an empty BB pistol to school and charged with felony terrorizing, were not among the nearly 400 other students who showed up for classes Wednesday morning.

Principal Daniel Hart said late Wednesday afternoon that both the 15-year-old Dixfield boy and the 16-year-old Rumford boy have each been placed on 10-day suspensions. One boy, a special education student, will face an expulsion hearing sometime within that period, because of his status; the other’s hearing will happen later this fall, Hart said.

Shortly after the gun scare, Dixfield Sgt. Mark Dow charged the pair with terrorizing with a firearm, for creating a perceived threat of imminent danger, which forced school officials into a lockdown situation. They were conditionally released to their parents.

“If this had happened five years ago, it might have been looked at as a prank,” Dow said.

“Fifteen years ago, kids here were coming to school with hunting rifles in their vehicles and going hunting after school let out. But now, with all the news of school shootings since Columbine, there’s no reason in the world that students and staff aren’t going to feel threatened to the presence of a gun,” he said.

The only information police and school officials had was an adult’s 911 alert after spotting a man with a gun on Nash Street between the school where students were milling about, and a ongoing girls field hockey practice opposite the entryway.

“While I was responding, the only thought going through my head was, was I going to survive this or go home in a box? We were not sure what was there. Is there more than one gun? Is this a planned thing? The perceived threat was grave enough to warrant a lethal response, if the situation had at all escalated. Thankfully, everyone went home on their feet,” Dow said.

Hart said both teens received automatic suspensions after violating school policy that forbids students from bringing onto school property, any weapon – real or a replica – that could cause harm to another student or staff. He said the two suspended boys have been under stress from setbacks within their families, including a grandmother’s recent death.

“One kid, we never had any problems with, but we had some with the other,” Dow said of police matters. He declined to be specific.

Both Hart and Dow explained the situation to the teens’ parents. “They seemed to be supportive of what we were doing. They were cooperative. I’m sure they weren’t happy about it. I wasn’t happy about it. One of the kids, I knew. I know his family,” Dow said.

Both officials fielded minimal reaction Tuesday night into Wednesday from parents of SAD 21 students. But on Wednesday morning, however, Hart said there was a wide range of reaction from students.

Some who saw the incident and the police response, said they thought it was either an assault or drug bust. Some thought it was a drill and didn’t react to it.

A junior on the boys’ soccer team, who would only identify himself as Larry, said Wednesday afternoon that students in his homeroom class and a study hall teacher were stunned by the news.

“Everybody was pretty much in shock. They didn’t think anything like this could happen here,” he said.

He didn’t witness it, but said he learned about it Tuesday night when one of the teens arrested sent him an instant message about it via the Internet.

“He’s done stupid stuff before, that’s why I wasn’t surprised it was him,” Larry said. He didn’t elaborate on the message.

Hart said some parents and students wanted to know why the girls field hockey team wasn’t evacuated to safety.

Natalie Waite and Cyndi Welch, Dixfield parents of two girls on the team, said that concerned them.

“They were all concerned about the kids standing outside the doors, but my daughter was in this field and they weren’t concerned about it,” Waite said.

Not so, said Hart.

“Our immediate concern was for students in the immediate entrance way and outside the building. Our priority was to ensure their safety. It was the best decision at that time. It was a risk. A decision was made on the spot,” he said.

Both Hart and Assistant Principal Jeff Turnbull, also the athletic director, went out to assess the situation and look for the boy with the gun. They saw the pair standing against the school building near the entrance, talking with other students, and carefully motioned for the students to leave the two and enter the school.

On Sept. 28, with help from Dixfield police, the high school worked out a lockdown response and evacuation plan should a gunman get inside the school. They had yet to work out a procedure for a situation like Tuesday’s scare, with an armed person outside the school. Ironically, that was scheduled to be done later this month.