Taken from LDN...
Hudson board shortens expulsion for student who unknowingly brought shotgun onto campus
By DENISE HOEPFNER
The Lufkin Daily News
Thursday, November 16, 2006
HUDSON — After meeting in a two-hour, closed-door session Thursday night, the Hudson ISD board of trustees modified the expulsion of a HHS junior who unknowingly brought an unloaded shotgun onto campus.
When the minor student missed his ride to school on Oct. 11, his mother instructed him to take his brother's truck. Because the truck did not have a parking tag, he parked it in a non-student parking area near the gym where a coach noticed it and called assistant principals P.T. Walters and John Courtney.
Courtney and Walters noticed an empty beer can and beer case in the truck bed and a silver box in the cab that resembled a handgun case. They called the student out of class and asked to search the truck. The student consented to the search and the shotgun — which belonged to the boy's brother and was used for hunting — was found. The silver box contained poker chips.
The gun was confiscated by the campus police officer, and the student was sent home. He was officially expelled on Oct. 16, for the entire school year. That decision was modified on Oct. 24 to the remainder of the calendar year, with the student allowed in the Alternative Education Program in January.
Attorney Al Charanza, representative for the family, appealed the expulsion before the board, arguing that the code of conduct definition of possession in the district's student handbook is inconsistent with that of the Texas Penal Code.
Supporters for the family were on hand to express their displeasure at the harshness of the original discipline.
Tim Smith of Hudson said, "You can't do a blanket policy. You have to look at individual cases. The kid made a concerted effort to get to school, and his life is going to be ruined?"
His wife Robin agreed the board should look at the history of the student, who has never had any discipline problems before.
"Zero tolerance shouldn't mean zero intelligence," she said.
The final ruling, which was made with the guidance of the district's attorney, was to allow the student to begin AEP on Nov. 27, three weeks earlier than the original expulsion allowed.
Charanza is pleased the student will be back in school earlier, allowing him to make up for the month that he has been expelled, he said.
By DENISE HOEPFNER
The Lufkin Daily News
Thursday, November 16, 2006
HUDSON — After meeting in a two-hour, closed-door session Thursday night, the Hudson ISD board of trustees modified the expulsion of a HHS junior who unknowingly brought an unloaded shotgun onto campus.
When the minor student missed his ride to school on Oct. 11, his mother instructed him to take his brother's truck. Because the truck did not have a parking tag, he parked it in a non-student parking area near the gym where a coach noticed it and called assistant principals P.T. Walters and John Courtney.
Courtney and Walters noticed an empty beer can and beer case in the truck bed and a silver box in the cab that resembled a handgun case. They called the student out of class and asked to search the truck. The student consented to the search and the shotgun — which belonged to the boy's brother and was used for hunting — was found. The silver box contained poker chips.
The gun was confiscated by the campus police officer, and the student was sent home. He was officially expelled on Oct. 16, for the entire school year. That decision was modified on Oct. 24 to the remainder of the calendar year, with the student allowed in the Alternative Education Program in January.
Attorney Al Charanza, representative for the family, appealed the expulsion before the board, arguing that the code of conduct definition of possession in the district's student handbook is inconsistent with that of the Texas Penal Code.
Supporters for the family were on hand to express their displeasure at the harshness of the original discipline.
Tim Smith of Hudson said, "You can't do a blanket policy. You have to look at individual cases. The kid made a concerted effort to get to school, and his life is going to be ruined?"
His wife Robin agreed the board should look at the history of the student, who has never had any discipline problems before.
"Zero tolerance shouldn't mean zero intelligence," she said.
The final ruling, which was made with the guidance of the district's attorney, was to allow the student to begin AEP on Nov. 27, three weeks earlier than the original expulsion allowed.
Charanza is pleased the student will be back in school earlier, allowing him to make up for the month that he has been expelled, he said.
posted by imaybeyourneighbor at 10:56 PM
2 Comments:
There is no such thing as zero tolerance. There is always circumstances that come into play. Accidents as this case seems to be and political things happen, meaning it depends on who your parents are. We wish it could be as simple as "do the crime,do the time" but it rarely works that way. Good luck to all involved and I hope it works out.
That headline could have been better. Seriously, how 'bout unknowingly brought it to school or something.
I agree, expeling this guy for the entire year was ridiculous!
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