We did the inspection and I called his parents. MY only option was to recommend expulsion according to the law. I provided he and his parents with the necessary forms to appeal that decision. They took it all the way up the ladder as per my recommendations and the Superintendent, after conferring with my boss and myself recommended expulsion for one day. The police were never involved in the matter. They were informed but chose to stay out of it because the county attorney chose not to pursue the case because he did not have a case. The boy stayed home, did his classwork, for one day and came back to school. I have never had any agency, the military, or employer ask for school disciplinary records. In fact, they cannot get them without the student's and/or parents written permission.
We could not violate state law and refuse to recommend or administer expulsion, which was the law.
There it is, a real-world example of the sort of process that goes on all the time
Strangely enough, most folks in education are all about the kids and their welfare.
I had a kid come through my class who, just the year before, had brung an actual loaded handgun (found on a front lawn walking to school through his rough neighborhood) to his middle school and showed it to his buddies. I dunno the legal gyrations involved in that one but the gist was he was back in school, with the regular kids, and it was all going to go away when he turned 18. Knowing the kid I agreed with the decision.
Closest I personally had was when we got back from a Saturday hike at a state park one time (Lost Maples) on a weekend and the kids are out in front of the school waiting to be picked up. This one guy had just left when a girl motions me over and tells me about a machete he had hidden in a flower bed.
Turns out the guy, who had never been out of the city before (and he was fifteen), was afraid of wild animals and had done the entire ten mile hike with a machete hidden inside his shorts
I was in a fix; if was just me I would have kept the machete and just talked the kid and his parents (if there were any to speak of), but the other kids knew I knew too. So, as I had to, I turned it over to Admin first thing Monday morning.
Turned out, since the machete was not even sharpened (it had been purchased at Academy the night before) everyone could say it wasn't really a "weapon". IIRC the kid was called in and given a stern talking to.
Couple of other points: It is my understanding that probable cause does not apply on school grounds, certainly not to minors, and that even my own vehicle is subject to search.
As pointed out, the seventeen year-old in this case was certainly a few sandwiches shy of a picnic. I'm further gonna opine that the smoking offense may well have had little, if anything, to do with the search of his vehicle. There are no secrets in high school. Just as likely OTHER kids told the teachers/school Cops/administrators that Rambo jr. had that stuff in his trunk.
Was he intending to shoot up the school? Not likely, much more likely really WAS intending to go hunting/shooting whatever. The bayonet and all those rounds? Hey, the kid is seventeen.....
My guess is, if the kid is otherwise clean with no priors, that if there is any way it can be done these felonies will be bargained down to some sort of misdemeanors. I dunno, since he is already 17, if they can be made to go away when he turns adult.
Birdwatcher
