Suspension Raises Questions About District Policy

By Beth Lucas, Tribune

When Sarah Akins found a 2-inch pocketknife on April 24 in the front pocket of her backpack during lunch, she said she showed it to her friends, unsure what to do.

The Tempe sixth-grader, a member of student council, said her friends advised her to toss it out before she got into trouble.

"We were thinking about whether I should or shouldn't throw it away, but then again, I worried somebody would've found it," the 12-year-old said.

Not knowing the district’s policy, the Connolly Middle School student held onto the knife for about half an hour, and showed it to her next teacher.

Under the rules of the Tempe Elementary School District, she may not have acted quickly enough. She was questioned for half the school day and sent home on a suspension until May 23 — the end of the school year.

On Monday, an appeal shortened the suspension to the 12 days Sarah served, and she is back in school today, in time to perform in her band concert. Sarah herself didn't attend the appeal.

Her father, Larry Akins, questions how a school district can expect a 12-year-old to know its policy. The Guidelines for Selected Offenses, which is in the student handbook that Akins and Sarah signed this year, includes an outline of discipline for offenses, but no requirements of reporting a weapon on campus.

"They know that they're not supposed to bring them to school," Akins said. "It was when she found it — now what do I do with it? She thought she was doing the right thing."

District rules allow administrators to impose suspensions of 11 days or longer, or expulsion, for students found in "possession of a dangerous instrument capable of intimidating or inflicting bodily harm to another person."

District administrators said they could not comment on the specific case because of laws protecting student privacy, said district spokesman Jon Brodsky. But they could advise that district policy states when in doubt about a prohibited weapon, students should go to the administrative office "immediately."

"The safety of our children is the most important thing, and we have policies to help ensure that," Brodsky said. "That immediacy is an important part of our policy for obvious reasons, because we need to protect the welfare of all our students. It could be that a student has some kind of a weapon, and doesn't intend to harm anybody with it, but it is simply not safe if a weapon is in the classroom or the school."

Brodsky said schools do their best to communicate to students that they must immediately turn over weapons through assemblies and in classrooms, depending on the school.

Larry Akins said he will appeal to the school district’s governing board to get the suspension off his daughter's record, even though the record won't follow Sarah to her next school district, or high school.

The hearing officer report, given to the Tribune by the Akinses, reports that Sarah has one other infraction at school relating to inflammatory language or offensive behavior. The hearing officer wrote that it was impossible to determine whether Sarah brought the knife to school or found it later because witnesses told different stories.

Larry Akins said he will ask the school district and the Legislature to change regulations to ease the punishment for students who turn in weapons the district can't prove belong to them, and to ensure students have the right to have their parents present during an investigation.

"The principal interrogated her, tried to intimidate her into admitting she had brought it from home," Larry Akins said. "She has been ostracized from her friends. She was treated as if she was a terrorist."

Sarah said she wasn't allowed to stand up, go to the bathroom, get a drink or call her parents.

"I asked them if I could call home, and they wouldn't let me call," she said. "I think it would be cool if we can change the way rules are. Right now, I want to put it behind me."

While not commenting on Sarah's case, Brodsky said state law allows principals to ask students under investigation if they want their parents present, and the general rule is to invite parents if a student asks.