CONNETQUOT COURT DATE TODAY: Plot on school fed by bullying?

On his Web site, he's mad at the world, sometimes

sarcastic and prone to cursing. He's fascinated with explosions, boasts of

drinking hard liquor, embarks on secret "missions" and details ways to defile

an enemy's house with a torrent of rotten eggs.

In real life, he's a short, bespectacled boy, described by dozens of peers

at Connetquot High School as a social outcast, the butt of jokes about his

weight, a sad-looking kid who silently took taunts and did nothing when a bully

dumped the contents of his backpack into a garbage can.

In July, the 15-year-old Bohemia boy was arrested on charges he was

plotting a Columbine-style attack at Connetquot. Last month, he pleaded guilty

to second-degree felony conspiracy. Today, he is scheduled to be sentenced in

Family Court in Central Islip.

Because he is charged as a juvenile - the reason he is not being named in

this story - the court appointed an advocate to look after his educational

needs. As she prepares her recommendation for the court, she says school

officials didn't do enough to help the bullied boy.

The conspiracy was revealed when a spiral-bound notebook was found in the

parking lot of the McDonald's on Veterans Highway where he worked. Police said

he described in the notebook his hatred for people and detailed a plan to kill

teachers and students on next year's anniversary of the Columbine tragedy.

The plot was shocking - especially to classmates who said it's unlikely he

would have carried out the attack. The teen probably was just venting

frustration over being constantly ridiculed, they said.

"People made fun of him every day," said Stephanie Gibbs, 15, who

remembered that students often called him "Donut Boy." Gibbs said the teen

seemed sad.

Most students said they saw him in school but didn't know him. "He didn't

talk at all," said T.J. Harcourt, 16, who served a suspension with the teen.

School was a source of anxiety and pain for the teen, said the attorney

appointed by the court to be his educational advocate during the case.

"There were things going on at school that they were not addressing," said

Diane Inbody of the Long Island Advocacy Center, who said she has spoken

extensively to the boy's mother and reviewed school records.

Inbody said classmates taunted him for living in a trailer park. She also

said a physical education teacher mocked him for his lack of swimming skills, a

charge denied by district superintendent Alan Groveman, who added that the

teen or his parents never complained about a teacher.

"I can't believe a teacher would do that," Groveman said. "Our teachers are

all very professional."

Already feeling ostracized by his peers, Inbody said, the teen was isolated

further when he was suspended in April.

That action took place after another student's parent told the school in

late March the teen had threatened in an online instant message to kill

himself, Groveman said. Administrators met with the teen, determined he was a

danger to himself and others, and suspended him, which ultimately lasted for

the remainder of his freshman year, Groveman said.

The teen has been at Sagamore Children's Psychiatric Center in Dix Hills

since his arrest.

The suicide threat, Inbody said, "should have been a red flag to the school

that suspending him was not sufficient." School officials should have

determined at that point whether he needed special education services and

looked into possible emotional issues, she said.

Because of privacy issues, Groveman said he can't discuss the special

education request but said administrators offered the teen's parents access to

whatever support he might have needed.

Around April, the teen's mother requested he be evaluated for special

education, Inbody said. The district began an investigation, but a crucial

meeting never took place because of his arrest. Inbody, whose job is to make

sure he continues to get his 10th grade education, said school officials have

notified her they're trying to set up that meeting next month. She said

Groveman should recuse himself from a hearing he is likely to be involved in

because of previous comments that the teen is unlikely to return to campus.

"He's passing judgment on this student before he's even had an opportunity

to conduct a hearing," she said.

Groveman said the comments were based on court proceedings. "The courts

seem to be keeping the child out of school," he said. "We've made no

determination about what we're going to do if and when the time comes."

The teen's online world, titled "DaRk's WoRdZ of WiSdoM," is posted on a

site where anyone can create a Web page for free. He uses an alias on the site,

which he mentioned to a detective who took his statement in July. It remains

online today.

The site makes no reference to being bullied, but his hatred for the high

school in-crowd and his hometown is punctuated with upper-case expletives and

misspellings: "What i seriously hate so much ... Popular [expletive deleted]

who think they deserve much more than everyone else ... [expletive deleted] ...

I WILL ANNILATE YOU ... "

Some classmates who knew him from attending John Pearl Elementary School in

Bohemia said the teen didn't seem to have any friends.

But he did have at least one good friend - Michael McDonough, 17, who also

was arrested and charged with fifth-degree conspiracy in the plot. McDonough,

then a junior at Sachem High School North, lived nearby in a similar trailer

park and worked with him at McDonald's.

One neighbor described the 15-year-old as "a perfect young man" who, with

his 17-year-old brother, helped shovel her out of snowstorms and talked to her

about God.

"He goes to church, he shared the Lord with me," Eileen Dignon, 65, said.

However, on his Web site, he writes that Christianity is worthless. Full of

bravado, he describes his enjoyment of violent video games and mentions his

father, who records show has been divorced from the teen's mother since 1996.

The teen writes that he "can't wait to visit the south with my dad."

After the arrests, a group of Connetquot students sat in the McDonald's.

Steven Yalowitz, 14, said he learned a lesson from the case: "Be careful of who

you make fun of."

But now that classes are back in session at Connetquot High School, the

freshman arrested over the summer is old news. Students said they hardly ever

mention his name.