
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 15, 1995                   TAG: 9504170037
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

JUNIOR HIGH PAIR SUSPENDED OVER BB PISTOL

A female student at Woodrow Wilson Middle School - who said she didn't know a BB pistol was in her book bag - and a male student to whom she gave the gun have been suspended for 10 days.

The seventh-graders also face expulsion by the Roanoke School Board after the normal disciplinary process is complete.

Principal Kay Duffy has recommended expulsion, in keeping with the city's disciplinary policy on gun possession on school property.

Only the School Board can expel students. The board routinely has approved recommendations for expulsion in the past two years, when more than a dozen students have been expelled for possession of weapons and drugs.

Duffy said the pistol did not create any danger because no ammunition was brought to school.

The girl told school officials that she didn't realize the gun had been put into her book bag while the bag was in her sister's car one night this week. She showed the weapon to some other students and gave it to the boy.

No criminal charges were placed against the students because of "all the circumstances of the case," Duffy said. "It was a fine line, but [the gun] was not loaded, there was no ammunition, and it was not brought to harm anyone."

It is a felony to bring a gun onto school grounds.

Effective July 1, state law will require any student who brings a gun to school to receive no less than a yearlong expulsion.

by CNB