KISD sends message, expels student who brought gun to school

Kilgore Independent School District administrators, backed by the Board of Trustees, made a strong statement yesterday: Don't bring a gun to Kilgore schools.

During a special hearing held at noon Tuesday, school officials decided to expel the sophomore male student who brought a loaded .22 caliber handgun to Kilgore High School.

The hearing was designed to hear both sides of the issue, and both the student and his parents had an opportunity to talk with school officials and board members in closed session but the parents or the student were not present.

Jody Clements, KISD superintendent, said the last correspondence from the Gregg County District Attorney's Office was that the student was still in custody and the parents did not respond to letters sent to them by the school district.

Clements said some school districts leave these matters strictly up to the school's administration, but it is Kilgore's policy to let the board make the final decision. The superintendent explained the board had options, choose to suspend the student and send him to Elder Alternative School or to expel the student for a certain length of time.

"If a student is expelled, that student cannot be sent to Elder," said Clements. "The student can apply to another school district, but it is very unlikely the student will be accepted based on this type of violation, or the student can be enrolled in a private school."

Clements recommended the student be expelled for the remainder of the 2008/2009 school year.

"I could have recommended the student be expelled for up to 365 days, but that would have put the expulsion into the first few weeks of the next school year," said Clements. "If the student wishes to come back to KISD next year, whatever credits he has earned over the remainder of this year will be evaluated and the student will start again at that point."

Trustees voted unanimously on the recommendation of the administration to expel the stu- dent for the rest of the school year.

Clements said in this type of situation with a gun on campus, whether it was for sale or not, officials wanted to send the message that this type of behavior will not be accepted at KISD and the maximum administrative discipline will be handed out.

Bobby Wheeley, assistant superintendent for KISD, said this action by the school district has no bearing on what type of charge or charges would be pursued by the Gregg County DA.

Clements said in the past, KISD has handed down this type of discipline but it is uncommon.

The youth faces a county detention hearing Monday. He is represented by attorney Lance Lairison of Longview.