SYDNEY - The NSW government insists schools are safe despite alleged threats and plots against students and staff at three public schools.
Two 16-year-old boys are in psychiatric care after discussing shooting fellow students and staff at Crookwell High School in the NSW southern tablelands.
Three 15-year-old boyshave been charged with making online threats to staff and fellow students of a high school at Ambarvale in Sydney's south-west earlier this month, and at Plumpton in Sydney's west a student allegedly threatened a teacher with a replica gun.
Education Minister John Della Bosca has praised the efforts of staff at Crookwell, saying good communication between the students, teachers and parents ensured everyone's safety.
Police detained two 16-year-olds from the school last week after receiving information from the principal, who told officers he had been approached by pupils who had concerns about the behaviour of two Year 11 students.
"The situation was managed well by the school, which continues to assist police with their inquiries," Mr Della Bosca said.
Despite the recent occurrences, he said incidents like this remained "rare".
"Given there are about one million students being taught in NSW schools, these type of incidents are rare, our schools are generally safe places for staff and students," he said.
"In public schools, automatic suspensions are enforced for students that use weapons or threaten staff and other students with violence.
"Schools work closely with police and parents when these type of incidents occur."
However, the NSW Teachers Federation says teachers are greatly concerned about the "disturbing" reports of threats in schools.
"We've been saying for a long time that our schools are in desperate need of additional resources," federation deputy president Angelo Gavrielatos said.
Schools were "grossly underfunded" when it came to school counsellors, who could help prevent problems escalating to the point where they erupted into threats of violence, he said.
There needed to be a "doubling" of the current 700 counsellors working in schools across the state, Mr Gavrielatos said.
