The Rhode Island 7th grader who was suspended for bringing a fake gun keychain to his middle school could get the incident expunged from his record after being offered a ‘deal’ by the school district.
Joseph Lyssikatos, a 12-year-old at Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School, was suspended for three days after a tiny gun keychain fell out of his backpack at school. But on Monday, the superintendent of Coventry Public Schools extended an olive branch of sorts, as WPRO reported.
If Lyssikatos does not have any additional disciplinary infractions for the remainder of the school year, the suspension will be expunged from his record, the boy’s father, Keith Bonnano, told the station.
Bonnano attended an appeal hearing on Monday afternoon, almost two weeks after the Sept. 26 incident, but it wasn’t until later that evening that the superintendent called to offer the deal. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Reginald Centracchio also attended the hearing and testified on the boy’s behalf.
“There is a total lack of common sense here,” Centracchio told the radio station, stressing that the boy’s intent was not malicious and that it could be used as a teaching moment.
When Lyssikatos was originally suspended, he was told he would also not be allowed to participate in a class field trip to Salem at the end of October. Prior to the hearing, the school said it would, in fact, allow the 12-year-old to participate.
Red Alert Politics reached out to Lyssikatos’ stepmother, who did not return a request for comment. Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School Principal Arthur Lisi and Coventry Public Schools also did not return request for comment.
