Page One

A Berkeley High School student accused of inadvertently bringing a gun on campus in her backpack is entitled to an expulsion hearing before the school board which could limit her punishment, expel her for a full year, or find her innocent, according to a youth rights expert. 

Two weeks ago, a BHS student, whose name has not been released, was detained by school safety officers and then arrested by Berkeley police after classmates saw the gun in her backpack. BHS Vice Principal of Discipline and Safety Denise Brown said that the student’s father told Brown that he had given the girl the gun for “safekeeping.” 

The gun had one bullet in the chamber, although the student told school officials she thought she had emptied the gun. 

Public Information Officer Joe Okies of the Berkeley Police Department said that the case is still under investigation. “No decision has yet been made on possible charges, or who is going to be charged,” Okies said. 

That left open the possibility that criminal charges could be brought against either the student or the parent. 

Abigail Trillin, managing attorney for the San Francisco-based Legal Services for Children, a non-profit law firm, said in a telephone interview that a principal can only recommend expulsion, but expulsion can only be ordered by the district school board after holding an evidentiary hearing. She said that the purpose of the board’s expulsion hearing is first to determine if the student is guilty of knowingly bringing a weapon on campus. 

“The standard is that she was knowingly in possession of the weapon,” Trillin said. “One question would be if she put the weapon in her backpack herself, or if it was put there by someone else. And if she did put the weapon in the backpack, there’s the question of if she actually forgot that it was there. That would be one of the issues of whether she ‘knowingly’ brought the weapon on campus.” 

And even though state law mandates that the school board uphold expulsion under the weapons possession statute, the board has wide latitude on the actual period of punishment. 

Trillin said that while the period of expulsion for a weapons possession charge is listed in state law as a year from the date of the occurrence, California school boards have the ability to shorten that time or, “if they find extenuating circumstances,” waive it altogether. In such a waiver, the student is expelled from school, but the expulsion is suspended.  

Trillin has not been in touch with the student or parent in question, but only learned the details of the case from the Daily Planet. 

BUSD Public Information Officer Mark Coplan said he knew of one such recent case in Davis, “where a student had been hunting over the weekend, left his rifle in the gunrack on his truck, and drove to school without realizing the gun was there. In that case, the district expelled him, but then immediately suspended the expulsion.” 

Coplan had earlier told the Daily Planet that the student had been expelled by BHS administration officials, but corrected that statement this week, saying that state law makes it mandatory that a student be recommended for expulsion if found with a gun on a public school campus. “It’s up to the board to make the decision on expulsion and punishment,” Coplan said. 

The board expulsion hearing must be held within 30 days of the date the expulsion was recommended by the school principal. 

Coplan said that Gerald Harrick of the BUSD Office of Student Services—who is in charge of district student disciplinary matters—met with the student and her father this week to discuss the situation. Harrick was not available for comment.›