Three suspended after gun brought to Kea'au school

Associated Press

HILO, Hawai'i — Three Kea'au Middle School students were suspended recently after one of them brought an unloaded gun to school and showed it to the others, authorities said.

The incident comes less than a year after six other students at Kea'au were suspended for a year over a similar firearms incident.

School officials declined to reveal the names or the grades of the students involved in the latest incident, which occurred Sept. 3. Kea'au Middle School has about 620 students in grades six through eight.

The students were suspended immediately after the incident but have since returned to school while the disciplinary action is being appealed, said complex area Superintendent Judith Saranchock.

In a letter to parents two days later, school officials said no one was endangered in the incident. "Some students were found to have handled the gun," the letter said. "At no time were any students or staff in danger."

Saranchock referred further questions to Kea'au Principal Jamil Ahmadia, who is off island and unavailable for comment until next week.

Authorities learned of the gun being brought to school through an anonymous tip from a parent. Police were notified and the case was referred to Family Court, said Hawai'i County Police Capt. Derek Pacheco.

Under the federal Gun-Free Schools Act, which is part of the state's public school disciplinary code, students who bring guns to school can be suspended for up to a calendar year.

Last November, two guns were brought to school by a student, who passed them to five other students, two of whom took the guns home.

State Department of Education officials reported last year that those six students would be suspended for one year, but they were suspended for only the remainder of the school year. The distinction is permitted in the law.

Administrators at Kea'au asked parents to talk to their children about the potential dangers of weapons, their responsibility to report any activities that could jeopardize campus safety and the provisions in the law that could lead to students' suspension.