Student suspended for sketching gun

Ray Parker
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 24, 2007

Parents angered by the suspension of their child for drawing a picture of a gun on an assignment paper are questioning the Chandler Unified School District's policies dealing with such incidents.

The Payne Junior High eighth-grader, along with another student, was suspended Monday for five days. Parents Paula and Ben Mosteller were able to get the suspension reduced to three after meeting with school officials.

The uproar over the drawing, which the student turned in with a school assignment, cuts to the question of what constitutes a "threat."

Craig Gilbert, Chandler director of secondary education, said there's a range of punishment administrators can hand down for "implied threats," ranging from a parent conference to suspension and expulsion.

"(School administrators) would determine what the situation is and the consequence," Gilbert said.

Gilbert confirmed another student also was suspended in connection with the incident but would not go into detail because of student privacy laws.

Paula Mosteller told the Associated Press she could not believe her son received suspension for a drawing: "I just can't believe that there wasn't another way to resolve this."

Parents can appeal a suspension of 10 days or more to a district hearing officer, said district spokesman Terry Locke, but for anything less, the school principal has the final word.

Payne principal Karen Martin did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The public often does not have access to the full story when it comes to student discipline because of privacy laws.

School officials have put the student's sketch in his file, which is not open to the public. And since school officials did not call the police, there's no public police record.

"Federal privacy laws forbid discussing student discipline," Locke said. "From a district point of view, it's over."

There are 985 students in Grades 6-8 at Payne Junior High, a Chandler Unified district school located in Queen Creek at 7655 S. Higley Road, near San Tan Boulevard.

Earlier this month, Principal Karen Martin sent a letter home to parents about an unrelated incident involving a student having a gun, which police investigated and found to be false.

"I am also writing to ask you to continue discussions with your children about the seriousness of actions and words that others might consider a threat," Martin wrote.