In Chicago:

Told to express emotion for a creative-writing class, high school senior Allen Lee penned an essay so disturbing to his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct, officials said Wednesday.

Lee, 18, a straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with the misdemeanor for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.
...
Disorderly conduct, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine, is often filed for such pranks as pulling a fire alarm or dialing 911 unnecessarily, he said. But it can also apply when someone's writings disturb an individual, Delelio said.
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Some legal experts said the charge is troubling because it was over an essay that even police admit contained no direct threats against anyone at the school. A civil rights advocate said the teacher's reaction to an essay shouldn't make it a crime.

Of course, since the article was never released, it's hard to say exactly what was so disturbing.  At some point of course, they'll have to release it as evidence of the crime.  But I find it hard to imagine that these charges will stick given this kid's impeccable academic record, the fact that it was a classroom assignment, and that it wasn't directed at a person, or the school in general.  Should this child be referred to counseling over why he may have wrote some of things he did?  Perhaps.  Fine him?  Absolutely not.

It's not mentioned specifically in the article... but if you go to it, there is a picture of the student.  He's Asian, and there is a resemblance between him and the VT killer.  I wonder if that didn't have something to do with it as well.