News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
A Sisters Middle School student landed in big trouble last week after other students saw him pretending to shoot at a teacher.
The youth was suspended from school on June 2 and his mother subsequently decided to home-school the boy for the remainder of the year, according to Principal Rich Shultz.
According to Shultz, the 8th-grader raised his arms like he was sighting a rifle at his teacher, who had his back turned. Another student confronted the boy and asked him what he was doing.
The boy allegedly responded, "I'm practicing. This is my (AK)-47."
When the other student asked him if he was really planning to shoot his teacher, the student responded, "I'm just imagining it," then said, "maybe, but I'm not sure which one yet."
Given heightened concerns about the potential for student violence, school administers "chose to err on the side of caution," Shultz said.
"In this case, I had to make the decision to put the student out in fear that this was more than a prank," Shultz said.
According to Shultz, the youth initially claimed he was set up by the other students, but he later admitted to his actions.
"He was frightened and he knew he'd done something stupid, but he was basically too frightened to admit it," Shultz said.
In a separate incident, the middle school also suspended a seventh grader who had two "emotional outbursts" with staff last week. Shultz said the youth has some special education needs and is "emotionally sensitive."
"Because of his emotional make-up, I thought it was important to contact his dad and have him out of school until we had a meeting," Shultz said.
Shultz said the youth will be placed on a home-school regime.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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