A student at Dubuque Senior High School in Iowa was briefly suspended Wednesday for storing a BB gun in his car parked off of campus grounds, reports KWWL. According to school district spokesperson Mike Cyze, a parent spotted the exposed BB gun in the car near campus and notified police. Authorities then searched the vehicle and confiscated the pistol.
However, Cyze announced Friday that, following the district’s investigation, the suspension was lifted. He also said the student’s ban from school on Wednesday was standard procedure and would not appear on any permanent record.
Immediately following the incident, Dan Johnson, principle of the high school, wrote in an e-mail to parents, “This incident is an important reminder that the school district and area law enforcement do not take the presence of these weapons lightly.”
Johnson also stressed in his message that there was never a “threat” to Dubuque students or staff because the BB gun remained in the vehicle and was not taken onto school grounds.
This incident is one of several odd disciplinary actions at schools across the country in recent months: a six-year-old in Colorado was suspended for sexual harassment after kissing a girl on the hand, a second grader in Maryland was suspended for biting his Pop-Tart in the shape of a gun, and an Illinois teen received a suspension for wearing a t-shirt with an AK-47 pictured on it.
