TYLER (September 24, 2009)--A 16-year-old John Tyler High School student arrested after the stabbing death of a teacher made his first court appearance Thursday while classmates returned to school where flowers adorned a flagpole in honor of the slain educator.

The boy was bound and shackled and dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit when he appeared in Smith County juvenile court Thursday afternoon in Tyler to answer question in a subdued voice inaudible to witnesses.

After the brief hearing, which lasted only a few minutes, the judge ordered that he remain in custody and set another hearing for Oct. 5.

The boy’s attorney says the teenager has a lengthy history of mental illness.

Jim Huggler said Thursday he planned to seek a competency hearing after a juvenile judge ruled there was probable cause for a murder charge.

Smith County Criminal District Attorney Matt Bingham has so far declined to comment on the case.

Tyler Superintendent Randy Reid said the student approached special education teacher Todd Henry, 50, at around 8:50 a.m. Wednesday and stabbed him in the neck with a sharp object.

A teacher's aide and two other students were in the classroom, and the aide subdued the suspect, Reid said.

Authorities have not offered a motive in the slaying.

Unformed law officers were outside the high school Thursday.

U.S. and Texas flags were flying outside the school.

Some bouquets with cards encircled the base of the pole.

One card said, "To a man that had a heart for the kids and music. May you rest in peace and may God be with you."

Westwood Baptist Church, across the street from the high school, was flying its U.S. flag at half-staff.

The Tyler Independent School District described the fatal stabbing as an "unforeseen isolated occurrence" and a "random act by an individual student."

Counselors were on hand Wednesday.

The principal of John Tyler High School is a former Waco and Copperas Cove ISD administrator.

Dr. Carol Saxenian was principal of Lake Air Middle School and later of Copperas Cove High School.

The Tyler ISD hired her this spring and she left Copperas Cove at the end of the school year.

She worked in the Waco ISD for more than 15 years before taking a job in the Eanes ISD near Austin and then accepting the principal’s post in Copperas Cove.