Springfield schools sued over weapons policy

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Associated Press


SPRINGFIELD (AP) — The father of a straight-A high school senior who was expelled after a hunting knife was found in his car trunk is suing the Springfield School District, claiming its zero-tolerance weapons policy is unfair.

The lawsuit claims the district failed to take into account the student's intent or his academic, extracurricular and disciplinary records. It said the student had a 5.0089 grade-point average on a 5.0 scale, was a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, belonged to the varsity golf and tennis teams and had no previous disciplinary problems, the (Springfield) State Journal-Register reported Friday (http://tinyurl.com/l29fjgz ).

The lawsuit, filed by the boy's father, Allen Mueller, also claims the district violated the Illinois School Code by failing to publish its weapons policy for public inspection in its administrative office.

According to court records, police with a K-9 dog searched the student's car in the school parking lot on Sept. 27 after receiving a tip that he might have marijuana. A search of the trunk allegedly turned up a collector's "Buffalo Bill" hunting knife inside a backpack, drug paraphernalia with traces of suspected marijuana and golf clubs, court records say.

The Springfield School Board voted earlier this month to expel the student, although the Springfield High principal testified on the student's behalf and his tennis coach wrote a letter of support.

The student's lawyers asked for a temporary restraining order to block the expulsion, arguing that he would suffer "irreparable injury" by being forced to receive a substandard education this year, but a judge rejected the request, the newspaper reported.

School district lawyers noted the student was offered the chance to enroll in the Springfield Public School Alternative Education Program but instead enrolled at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School.

Neither the student's attorney, Dennis O'Brien, nor school district attorney Denise Druhot returned phone calls from the newspaper. A call to O'Brien's office by The Associated Press on Saturday rang unanswered, and Druhot did not immediately return a phone message.

Springfield interim school superintendent Bob Leming declined to comment to the newspaper.

[deebakes]

seems a bit extreme, but he did have weed :shrug:

[KevinD]

So, he was reported as possibly having drugs. K-9 searched, and found traces, and a knife. How is this a weapons policy problem?

[Hal-9000]

this is where your laws get muddy...

the other day we were talking about reasonable suspicion giving the police the right to search a house without a warrant....(which I agree with)

here we have a vehicle search based on...a tip? He may have marijuana?? I think they were looking for something else...

[KevinD]

Whut's Muddy got to do with it? I miss something? :lol:

Seriously though Hal, what is difficult for outsiders to understand is that supposedly, states have the right to make their own laws (in respect to the US constitution) so yes, it can get very confusing without a good working knowledge of each states' laws. Which I don't posses btw.

How I kinda read this is that the report was made of drugs, and the school searched the boys car. Doge alerted on the backpack which had the paraphernalia, and also found the knife. Since no drugs were found, the administration suspended him for the knife. (lucky for him, golf clubs are not considered deadly weapons yet)
While I do not at all agree that a knife found locked in his trunk is grounds for suspension under "zero tolerance" (Zero Tolerance is a whole 'nother topic) under general school rules, the knife should not have been there.

I miss the days when I'd show up at school with a rifle or shotgun in the window rack of my truck, not lock the door, and no one would say anything other than ask me what type/caliber, can they shoot it etc.

[KevinD]

The whole problem with "reasonable suspicion" is that it is wide open to interpretation, which actually, needs it's own thread as well.

[Hal-9000]

I see the stories from an outside point of view and to be frank...most people complain about their rights to the point of the police not being able to do their jobs...

like the night they searched the Boston neighborhood for the bomber....there were a few here who thought that was like burning the very Constitution :lol:


and the story last week about the gun guy who had booby trapped his apartment...the cops had to get in and disarm the shite and couldn't wait for a warrant, yet some folks thought that was going too far...


I understand no one wants to lose your civil rights....if they do 'this', what's to stop them from doing 'that'....I get it...

but I think there are some situations that cross that boundary and we have to give cops full access...


another example is check stops....people in the States want the locations published, because some of them feel the cops shouldn't be able to search around your car during a random stop....up here, check stop locations are never published...kinda defeats the purpose of catching drunk drivers if they can map out where to avoid driving :lol:

and all this has little to do with the story above...other than for once, I think it was 'lightweight' reasoning that got the cops in the trunk of that car...that's why I suspect that they suspected more than just weed...

[KevinD]

I get you Hal, and see what you are talking about.
I don't know enough really about the shooter who booby trapped his apartment to really have an opinion, at least I don't remember at this moment.
In the case of the Boston Bomber, what the police (in SOME cases) did is unconstitutional. TBH, had it happened here at my home, there quite possibly have been a second news report, esp if they broke in my home in the middle of the night. IIRC what most were upset about is the way the cops "searched" door to door. I could be mistaken.
"Check Stops" imho, in every state of the US, and under federal law, is illegal. The police patently do NOT have the right to stop you in a vehicle, on a bike, horse, walking down the street, whatever, just to check you out. They MUST have reasonable suspicion/cause.

I'm not in anyway defending what may have happened with the OP story. I'm just ,frustrated I guess, that the reason it made National news is because of the weapons policy, not the drugs.