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What Is a Weapon?Aiiotiaod (V«nBrian Wood, shown with his parents, Larry and Lavonne, was expelled from Bassett High School for possession of a pocket knife.Pocket Knife Case Reaches Supreme CourtBASSETT (AP) - Brian Wood did what any honest kid would do as he and his classmates, on a field trip in March 1996, entered the county jail. He handed his small pocket-knife to a deputy as he went in.His father sent away snuff can labels to a tobacco company in exchange for two small pocketknivos with 214-inch blades. He gave one to Brian, then a sophomore at Bassett High School.But Henry County school officials decided the knife was a firearm and that Wood violated school district policy by carrying it. Subsequently, he was oxpelled.The legal fight that began when the family hired a lawyer and sued the school district, claiming a denial of due process, reached the state Supreme Court last week.We want to make sure something like this doesn't happen to some other student, said Larry Wood, Brian’s father.School officials said they handled Brian’s case by the book.1 feel like the student was given due process and appropriate discipline according to school board policy ” said David Martin, the Henry County school superintendent.The day he was given the knife, Brian stuck it in the pocket of his jeans. The next morning, he put the same jeans back on, the knife still in the pocket. He went with his sophomore English class on a field trip to the county administration building and jail.At the jail, a deputy asked the students to empty their pockets and asked if any of them had any weapons. Brian handed the deputy the knife and a lighter ne had in his pocket and thought nothing of it.Later in the day, he was called to the assistant principal’s office and asked about the knife. He told the principal what happened and wrote out his account of the events. School officials told him he would be suspended for 10 days, and his mother, Lavonne Wood, picked him up. She_ said school officials assured her that Brian would be back in school soon.But then the family got a letter summoning them to appear before a disciplinary board for a severe act of misbehavior. The family hired an attorney.At the disciplinary hearing, a panel of teachers and administrators discussed the boy’s good attendance and record, then decided to recommend a yearlong expulsion to the school board.Brian and his parents took the case before Martin, and then before the school board. The board found the boy in violation of its weapons policy and a section of state law that allows students to be expelled for carrying a firearm to a school-sponsored event. The board expelled Wood for the rest of the spring 1996 semester and provided him with a home-bound teacher.
Newspaper Details
Winchester Star
Winchester, Virginia, US
Fri, Nov 07, 1997
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Ginger L.
VA, USA 06 Jul 2017
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