Without discussion, the Clarkston Community Schools Board of Education voted Monday to expel a 14-year-old student who brought a firearm to Clarkston High School Monday, Oct. 27.
While police believed the student had simply showed bad judgment, both the law and school policy are clear about the prohibition of firearms on school property.
School board documents said an administrative hearing was conducted Nov. 6, with the boy’s mother waiving the right to a full hearing before the school board. Further, the mother withdrew her son from Clarkston High School Nov. 3, with a request to forward his academic records to another school.
“The hearing officer ruled that the charges…were true, full due process had been followed and the recommendation for expulsion was appropriate based both on district policy and on state law,” a board memo said.
According to Lt. Dale LaBair of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department Independence Township substation, the student displayed an unloaded .38 caliber revolver to students around 2:30 p.m. Oct. 27. A fellow student told school officials, who detained the boy and found the weapon in his backpack.
The student’s parents are divorced, LaBair previously said, and the boy had visited his father in Auburn Hills, where he found the pistol in a box under a bed. Apparently merely curious, he brought the weapon back to his Independence Township residence, then took it to school.
Sheriff’s investigation showed the father had no ammunition at his home, and the mother said there are no firearms in her home, LaBair said.
Detective Darren Ofiara, the high school liaison officer, had recommended only a charge of carrying a weapon on school property, which is designated as a “weapon-free zone.”
Ofiara said Tuesday the petition has been accepted by Oakland County Probate Court, but no specific court date has been set.
If the student were to be tried as an adult for carrying a concealed weapon, the potential felony penalty would be a maximum of five years imprisonment and $2,500 fine. LaBair said the weapon-free zone violation is a misdemeanor that in adult court could lead to 93 days in jail, 150 days of community service, and/or an additional $7,500 fine.