NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A student has been expelled from school, and his father is getting a lesson in the law.
The lesson of zero-tolerance for violent language isn’t just for the students at Scheck Hillel Community School in Northeast Miami-Dade.
One word from Mark Polyakov after leaving jail Tuesday afternoon.
A reporter had asked him what he had to say on the matter, and he only said, “lawsuit.”
He was arrested Monday, accused of threatening to burn down the private Jewish institution his son attends.
According to police, the threats were on a parent’s text thread labeled “No more masks Hillel.”
On Feb. 8, police said the 37-year-old texted, “I want to burn this school to the [expletive] ground! This is what they are doing outside forcing [expletive] masks 80 degrees. You can’t be nice gets you nowhere.”
Two days later in the same group chat, “I just got kicked out of Hillel. I will burn this school down.”
He was banned from school property, and his son was expelled after a parent on the thread reported him.
“I think that it’s very serious,” said Rachel Slelatt, a parent. “I think that Hillel was right to report it to the police, and hopefully that it’s taken care of. I mean, it was scary, but I think it was well taken care of.”
“Obviously the threats are very scary, but the school has security, and I have complete faith in that,” said Hedy Whitebook, a grandparent.
A statement from the interim head of school reads: “Our school holds security as a cornerstone of our institution, and we take any threat very seriously and follow all guidelines, including reporting any such threats to the police. We reported a parent’s threat of violence against our school and understand that their investigation has led to an arrest. We have zero tolerance for aggressive or violent language or behavior.”
Polyakov is charged with making written threats to kill or do bodily injury.
Though he is threatening a lawsuit, it is unclear if he’ll follow through.
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