Dangerous!
KOMO: A 14-year-old Marysville Middle School student has been suspended for the rest of the school year, accused of pretending to shoot at students using his hands as simulated guns as he walked around the school hallways.
But while Hunter Lance’s mom isn’t denying what her son did was wrong, she believes the 9-day suspension that followed was unfairly harsh.
“I think it was just ‘bang’, ‘bang’ with your hand, or maybe a machine gun with your arm,” said Rondi Lance. “I am not questioning the suspension or the discipline actions. Definitely they should’ve done what they did, but I think it’s really extreme.” “Two weeks’ (suspension). That’s it,” she continued. “You don’t get to clean out your locker, you don’t get to finalize your grades. It’s like, ‘get your stuff, you’re done for the year.’ Nobody has taken any steps to talk to him and explain to him how serious this is and why we have to do this.”
District officials have released few details about the incident, which took place on May 31. School officials only disciplined Hunter because they only saw him misbehaving and because he had a history of issues at school, said assistant school superintendent Gail Miller.
“The one student was walking down the hall pretending to shoot at students and saying what his ‘kill count’ was,” Miller said. “This is definitely inappropriate behavior and it frightened some children.”
Miller said she was too busy Tuesday to answer more questions about what happened.
Rondi Lance – who described the incident as child’s play among friends – wanted to know why school officials hadn’t disciplined other students and wouldn’t explain their actions.
“I understand totally that what he did is serious, and I understand that there’s going to be discipline actions taken. I get that,” she said. “My heart goes out to everyone who’s been affected by a school shooting.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me. How can they cut him off at the knees and be done with him?” she asked.
While Lance waits for answers, her son Hunter sits suspended for the rest of the year. Without finishing classes, he faces the possibility of summer school, Lance said.
“He’s learned a lesson. That’s not going to happen again,” she said. “I just – I want to put it behind us at this point. I’m tired of being frustrated and I want to move on.”
Susan Hegeberg, Principal, Marysville Middle School
4923 67th Street NE, Marysville, WA 98270
Tel: 360-653-0615
Email: [email protected]
Another school that received the “guns are bad memo“. Reason ∞ to home school.
DCG
