Expelled from middle school...

Warrigal

Warrigal

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Location
Sydney, Australia
Unbelievable.

As a former middle school teacher in Sydney, I have never heard of anything close to what has happened to an 11 year old boy in Michigan.

Michigan mom says 11-year-old son was expelled after dismantling classmate's loaded gun at school​

The incident happened in May at Dwight Rich School of the Arts in Lansing after a student allegedly brought a loaded gun to school.
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I take with a grain of salt what students and their parents say is the reason for their being expelled but in this case the unbelievable happens to be correct.

Please tell me that this did not happen...

Michigan mom says 11-year-old son was expelled after dismantling classmate's loaded gun at school
 

oldman said:
Well, obviously there is more to the story that hasn’t been revealed. Until we know the rest of the story, I don’t see how anyone can reach a conclusion as to how this should end.
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Exactly this. ⬆️ I'd sure like to hear the other kid's side of what happened. (Or better yet, the school's statement of why the kid was actually expelled.) Just claiming your side and making it go viral on social media doesn't make it the truth or the whole story.
 

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I tend to agree that there is definitely more to this story.

Why take the gun from the other kid in the first place? 🤔

Why hide the pieces in a heater instead of giving them to a teacher or administrator? 🤔

Why, why, why? 🤔

I’m not saying he is a bad kid, just saying he is a kid and there must be more to this story.
 
Aunt Bea beat me to it. Think of it as, "What's wrong with hiding your friend's gun for him at school?" OK maybe to a knowledgeable gun owner, he gets some points for knowing how to disarm it. But don't hide the thing so that the school doesn't know about it. You have to wonder why NBC didn't ask that question. Maybe they did, but felt it journalistic to only report what people said, not to point out questions that need to be asked. I would think, even the kid's mother would have asked him that. Or maybe she didn't consider that relevant.

There's definitely more I would like to know here before I held the school accountable.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I tend to agree that there is definitely more to this story.

Why take the gun from the other kid in the first place? 🤔

Why hide the pieces in a heater instead of giving them to a teacher or administrator? 🤔

Why, why, why? 🤔

I’m not saying he is a bad kid, just saying he is a kid and there must be more to this story.
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I’ve been thinking about this one and stand by my original comment but probably the worst thing that we can do for any kid is to cast them out of the system, with a suspension, instead of drawing them closer when they are in trouble.

The one thing that most kids don’t need is more unstructured time on their hands.

It might be better to keep him and others in some sort of ‘school jail’ for a few days.

Something on the order of a supervised study hall with online lessons, away from his mates, coupled with a bit of counseling.
 
Just as a side note here... I've been noticing that most of the reports today say "Mom claims" or "Mom says...." and I truly think that something's going to come out that explains the real reason for what happened. 🤷‍♀️
 
The woman has no choice other than to use media since the school district has control of the narrative and most importantly the facts and evidence and the School District is hiding behind "privacy." That's why all the reports(which are prob the same report, reported in many outlets) say "mom says." The kid needs to be in school and a month has gone by already in 25-26 school year.

Maybe the kid saved lives that day and didn't want to snitch on his friend. He's 11 fer chrissake.
 
And this... (And remember FERPA... they *can't* go into detail.)

"In a statement, the Lansing School District said it issued its decision "after a thorough investigation, including review of video evidence, numerous witness statements, and careful deliberation, as well as a disciplinary hearing. Unfortunately, the full account of the incident has not been reported, and statements appear to have been offered selectively to create a false narrative."
 
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I think it’s becoming clear why the school took the action they did. I examined Michigan’s policy regarding children with any dangerous weapon and per the policy, the student must be expelled permanently, subject to possible reinstatement provided for in the law. However, I don’t believe the school board has met the full extent of the policy or the Federal FERPA law.

FERPA is a “Federal” law that gives parents the right to view their child’s record and correct any errors, which evidently, the board has failed to abide by.

Here you can read the law for yourself and decide if the school board acted accordingly to the Michigan policy.

Michigan Student Gun Policy

FERPA LAW
FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records by giving parents and students rights to inspect and review their records, request corrections, and control the disclosure of personally identifiable information. The law applies to any educational institution or agency receiving federal funding and requires schools to provide annual notifications of these right
 
I thought some of the information was missing. I agree that the school board hasn’t consented with the Fed law or the Michigan policy.
I think this case could very well be headed to court.
 
I had the same thought as the above when I read whatever it was that I read. It seemed to me that the school did not explain its position. We hear the parent's side, but not the school's. But we have to remember that this is an article from the media. I find it hard to believe the school did not explain its position. My first thought is that the article is incomplete. Maybe not, but that's my first response until I learn differently.

I know from first hand actual experience, that even responsible media doesn't always get it right. I also know that they make extra efforts to corroborate information, but they still miss the boat sometimes. And today, much of the media seems preoccupied with sensationalism and writes to enhance shock value.
 
JustDave said:
I had the same thought as the above when I read whatever it was that I read. It seemed to me that the school did not explain its position. We hear the parent's side, but not the school's. But we have to remember that this is an article from the media. I find it hard to believe the school did not explain its position. My first thought is that the article is incomplete. Maybe not, but that's my first response until I learn differently.

I know from first hand actual experience, that even responsible media doesn't always get it right. I also know that they make extra efforts to corroborate information, but they still miss the boat sometimes. And today, much of the media seems preoccupied with sensationalism and writes to enhance shock value.
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JD, the school district has stated "the full account has not been reported" so how is the media going to get the full story until the SD details the "full account"? FOIA? FERPA?

Why doesn't the SD give the mother the "full account"? I'll tell you why, the SD has won the publicity battle so far and they don't want that to change by giving her anything to fight them with.

Then the SD goes on to complain about "statements offered selectively" trying to damage the mother's position yet the SD themselves has done exactly what they're complaining about.

As usual it's the authorities using every tool at their disposal to "win", but the kid needs to go school!
 
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