Principal Barbara Boone said the school suspended 10 of the 12 students on Feb. 11 after the other two students came forward to school administrators about the arson plan. Four of those students returned to school on Feb. 23, following a two-week hiatus that included one week of suspension and a schoolwide winter break. Four more, who spent time at Juvenile Hall, returned Feb. 27. The final two students who were detained will not be returning to Cupertino Middle, although Boone could not say why.

According to Boone, an angry student began the plot and ended up with 11 partners and a plan that included individual roles for each member, to be carried out after school on Feb. 13. Two students came forward, and the plan burned out before it could be carried out.

Boone said that she is not worried about the students who returned to school, because the incident served as another learning experience for the school's character-building program, which stresses positive choices in dealing with obstacles.

"You never know how kids handle being angry, and they handled it very inappropriately," Boone said. "It was a big issue on how you handle anger and disappointment."

When the first four students got back, Boone and her staff spoke with each of them to discuss behavior expectations, encourage them to move on and help them get back into the middle school routine. The second group of four had meetings with their parents and administrators to do the same.

"We didn't want this to become an ongoing event or for them to feel like stars or anything," Boone said.

Boone said that in response to the event, other schools in the district have come to her asking about the character-building program the school runs, which Boone credits with inspiring some of the students to come forward.

Twice a week, students hear words of wisdom during morning announcements, and teachers continually stress the importance of making the right decisions every day.

Although it looks like the excitement has died down and the school has moved on, Boone said her staff members have continued to make themselves available to parents, staff and students with questions, although she said no one is coming forward anymore to talk.

"I wanted to basically know if there was fear out there," Boone said. "And there wasn't, most of the kids were nonchalant about it."