AZ: 17-year-old disciplined for shotgun shells at school

[NineseveN]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...shoot1029.html

District overreacted in punishing athlete for ammo in SUV, family says

Erin Zlomek
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 29, 2007

Surprise high-school senior Kim Peters carries an Olympic identification
badge and an Arizona skeet-shooting members' card, but neither got her out
of a four-day suspension for bringing shotgun shells onto school grounds.

The 17-year-old started competitive clay shooting her freshman year at the
urging of her mom and stepfather.

She has since won several trophies in the male-dominated sport and in August
was one of 18 athletes across the nation to attend this year's Junior
Olympic shooting camp in Colorado Springs, Colo.



But the hobby got Peters into trouble last week. Willow Canyon High School
administrators disciplined Peters after a security guard noticed two
unopened boxes of the shells sitting in the back seat of the student's white
sport utility vehicle. There was no gun.

Peters said her 12-hours-a-week practice schedule got so hectic that she
forgot to unload the ammunition from her vehicle as she was running late for
school Tuesday morning.

To beat the bell, she said she took a shortcut and parked in a visitors-only
lot closest to the school. The guard spotted the shells while ticketing her
for parking in the non-student area.

Now, Peters fears the resulting punishment will cloud her permanent record
as she applies to colleges. Her family is fighting the Dysart Unified School
District to get the offense, possession of a "dangerous instrument,"
expunged.

Administrators stand by their decision and rejected the family's first
appeal last week.

"We can never comment on a specific situation with a student (due to privacy
laws), but what I can say is that whenever we are dealing with any
infraction . . . our duties involve keeping students in a safe and secure
environment," Dysart Superintendent Gail Pletnick said.

Peters called her own actions "careless" but said she doesn't feel the
punishment fits the crime.

"They searched me and they searched my car," she said.

Searchers discovered that Peters had cigarettes in the car, an offense also
punishable by suspension. Though Peters technically violated three school
rules, she was punished only for the shells, according to a Dysart
disciplinary-incident form sent home with Peters.

Arguing that Peters proved she regularly uses the shells for sport, her
father, Tony, asked administrators to swap the ammunition offense for the
cigarette offense. Tony said he felt anyone requesting his daughter's
behavior records might be more sympathetic to a "tobacco" violation vs. a
"dangerous instrument" violation. He said he feels the latter unfairly
implies that his daughter brought a gun or bomb into the school building.
When officials refused to make the swap, Tony accused the district of
overreacting and trying to make an inappropriate example out of his
daughter.

The Peterses also cite a 2007 federal education statute that explicitly
excludes shotguns and shotgun shells from being categorized as a destructive
device because they are primarily used for sport. Despite the statute,
districts are free to take disciplinary actions where they see fit,
according to the Arizona Department of Education.

Pletnick said that school shootings at Columbine High School and Virginia
Tech have forced school districts everywhere to re-evaluate and tighten
their safety standards.

Peters said she is still trying to drum up support for her position and has
started by contacting some of her target-shooting mentors.

Zach Snow, a promotions coordinator with the National Shooting Sports
Foundation, said other athletes have reported similar complaints in the
past, prompting professional shooters and the National Rifle Association to
come to their defense.

He said the most notable case was when a group of students was sent home for
wearing foundation T-shirts, which pictured a silhouette of a shooter
holding a rifle. But Snow said to his knowledge, Peters' situation is the
first of its kind.

She is scheduled to return to school Tuesday.

[billamj]

If anyone has a link where we can contact this family to see what can be done to help please post it. This is a case of a school going out of its was to punish someone because of a legal product, time to stomp back.

[Zef_66]

Her family is fighting the Dysart Unified School District to get the offense, possession of a "dangerous instrument," expunged.

Yeah, I never thought only the shells were dangerous instruments. The actual shotgun, maybe...but not the shells.

[Atomic Dog]

Yeah, I never thought only the shells were dangerous instruments. The actual shotgun, maybe...but not the shells.

Wake up man! She could start throwing them at the other students! Imagine how bad that would hurt. It might even bruise, maybe break the skin on some wussy kids.

[ExCopInPhilly]

The saddest part is that if she won the Olympics or Junior Olympics, the school would be the first to claim credit for her. I hate bureaucrats.

[ca2pa]

That is unfortunate. You can do more damage with a baseball sitting behind a baseball players car that he totes around between games or practice! A shotgun shell is an accessory for the primary device in her sport, like a baseball is to a bat! It seems like the student had a valid reason as to why they were in her car. I hope she gets that taken care of, it would suck for colleges to look at her differently for this...

[Agent Smith]

she
forgot to unload the ammunition from her vehicle

I didn't know vehicles could be loaded with ammunition.

On a serious note, the school should cut her a break on this. If it was just some kid that brought them to school because they thought it would be fun, then I could understand, but to punish someone like her that has a valid reason as to why they would be in her vehicle, it's ridiculous.

[Nate]

I very highly doubt when I have kids they will go to a public school. I don't want to have to deal with this kind of bull shit. If the founding fathers of this nation found out about this they would climb out of the grave and take whatever means necessary right this wrong!!!

[Frenchy]

Some one needs to give the principal of this school a lesson on firearms, shells on their own are nothing to worry about. Second, there was a time schools actually paid for the equipment for their students to compete. I think its about time Schools re thought their activities and brough back some of the old school sports.

Do they not realize this is an olympic sport now?
When do we start banning fencing and the throws, including the all too dangerous javelin? Archery was once a high school activity, where did that go?

[Vortex]

Yeah, I never thought only the shells were dangerous instruments. The actual shotgun, maybe...but not the shells.

Wake up man! She could start throwing them at the other students!

Some one needs to give the principal of this school a lesson on firearms, shells on their own are nothing to worry about.

Doesn't anybody watch James Bond movies anymore?

Assuming you are right handed, the correct technique is to wrap the fingers of your left hand tightly around the body of the shell with the brass end by the base of your thumb. While pointed the crimped end at your target, strike the primer firmly with a ball point pen.

I believe that you can take out an M1 Abrams out to 200 yards with this technique. It also has the added benefit of not leaving powder burns on your fingers or preventing you from immediately carry on a conversation in a normal tone of voice.

Of course the shells by themselves are dangerous, you just have to think like a bungling public school system bureaucrat to understand why.

On a serious note, it's unfortunate that a gifted Olympic athlete has to fight to clear her name while the very same school bureaucracy no doubt coddles and makes excuses for the clearly going nowhere riff-raff. It's a shame that Arizona may be turning into Califormia.