Another rash of threats against Butler Intermediate High School has us once again thinking about a better way to deal with hoaxes that disrupt the school day.

The first threat came on Sept. 8 shortly before noon, when a bomb threat forced students to be evacuated and hold their lunch periods at the high school. The second, a “vague threat posted on social media” on Sept. 13, did not disrupt classes but prompted school officials to request police presence at the intermediate high school. The most recent threat was discovered Wednesday morning in a bathroom, and forced the evacuation of students yet again.

That makes two times in less than two weeks that the district has had to evacuate 1,500 students and the teachers, administrators and staff members in charge of their education and safety; and three times that the district has had to request public safety and law enforcement resources be dispatched to their campus.

All that, and we’re only four weeks into the 2017-18 school year.

These threats, which some dismiss as students trying to get a rise out of school officials or get out of tests and other schoolwork, are serious events.

They alarm parents, disrupt the school day for students, interfere with teachers’ already-tightly-packed schedules and lesson plans, and waste police and public safety resources.

And yes — they do, in fact, put everyone (students, teachers and emergency responders) at risk. Evacuating hundreds of people from a school building can be a messy and inexact affair no matter how much practice students and teachers have. This is literally the equivalent of yelling “fire!” in a crowded theater: someone could be injured.

Butler isn’t alone in dealing with this issue. Pennsylvania schools in general rank near the top in a state-by-state analysis of yearly bomb threats, according to a study by the Educator’s School Safety Network. And state data shows that Pennsylvania public schools have seen an increase in unsolved bomb threats against each year since 2012-13, according to the state Department of Education.

That tells us one very important thing: the policies and procedures currently in place to deal with and deter these incidents aren’t working. That’s disheartening, because culprits can already face criminal charges of terroristic threats and disorderly conduct.

If the threat of legal and financial punishment isn’t enough to stop these hoaxes from being perpetrated, perhaps publish shaming might. When a hoaxer is caught and a conviction does occur, we don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be identified to the public.

The days of erring on the side of “kids being kids,” should have been over long ago. These hoaxes aren’t treated like pranks, they’re treated like the threats that they are. The perpetrators should be treated accordingly.