Judge sides with Dist. 203 on students' expulsion

Naperville Unit District 203 did not act inappropriately when temporarily expelling two students for playing with a pellet gun on the school bus, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Popejoy upheld the school board's unanimous decision July 17 to expel the boys for their first semester at Naperville North High School.

Their families filed a lawsuit asking a judge to intervene while alleging the boys didn't understand the district policy because of language and cultural barriers. They moved from Korea in 2005.

The two boys, then eighth-graders at Jefferson Junior High, fired pellets at each other May 21 from a lookalike weapon. No one was injured.

The teens did not face criminal charges. But they were suspended for 10 days and given a disciplinary hearing in June. Several weeks later, at a July 17 school board meeting, they received a half-year expulsion despite pleas from at least a dozen family members and friends.

District policies state students possessing weapons, whether real or a lookalike, will be expelled for at least a year. The school board is empowered to modify that punishment if it chooses.