Two 16-year-old girls have been charged by Adams Township Police for their roles in what became a nervous and frustrating week of threats against the Mars School District.

Last week Mars High School students had two school days disrupted while their building was searched after bomb threats were received. On Friday, the entire school system was shut down because of “rumors of possible violence.”

“Maintaining a safe and secure building for children and staff is most important,” Mars Superintendent Wesley Shipley said last week. “We take these threats seriously and ask our families to have serious conversations about the events of this week.”

Any idiot can make an anonymous threat by phone or leave a note in an easy-to-find location. But when that happens, it leaves nervous parents, frustrated school administrators and overworked law enforcement officers to deal with the situation.

While Mars students were off Friday, it certainly wasn’t a day off for the Adams Township Police, who had to not only ensure that the school buildings were safe, but investigate the incidents that eventually led to criminal charges against the suspects. Let’s not forget the parents who had to find child care during the day Friday and the students whose education was disrupted.

Common sense tells us that truly dangerous people would never telegraph their intentions by making a phone call or leaving a note where someone could find it. The act, not the threat, is what they’re trying to accomplish.

So what was it that these two students were trying to accomplish? At this time, we don’t know the answer to that question. What we do know is that both of them grew up in a time when “mass casualty” school shootings have been a tragic occurrence in public schools. A teenager today should know that school violence — or even the threat of a violent incident taking place at a school — is something society takes seriously.

To say that both of them should have “known better” is the understatement of the year.

Moving forward, what would be the correct thing to do in this case when these two teenagers go to court? While we don’t know what makes up the commonwealth’s case against these two young women, we do know what we want.

We want these cases prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If these two — and anyone else who may be charged in connection with these threat cases — is convicted, we want them to receive a punishment that they won’t soon forget.

The threats made against the Mars school system last week weren’t victimless crimes. Anyone convicted in these threat cases should have known that before they picked up the phone or left the note.