<< March 09, 2000

7th-Grader With Scissors Violates Policy

BY TANYA EISERER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
A 12-year-old Morton Middle School student faces being kicked out of school after she brought a pair of blunt-edged safety scissors to
school last week.
The seventh-grader, who has technically been expelled, remains in school pending a review of the case, said Luanne Nelson, an Omaha School District spokeswoman.

The district’s code of student conduct prohibits students from bringing scissors to school. Under the zero-tolerance policy, the penalty
for that offense is expulsion.

The student was caught with the scissors after an adult saw her lend them to another student, she said.
Steve Nelson, director of student and community
services, said it doesn’t matter whether the student intended to harm anyone or that the scissors were at the start of the year, he said, that scissors are not permitted.
The district needs to be consistent in enforcing its policies, Steve Nelson said. But
he said the student’s family can appeal the expulsion,first to a hearing officer and then to the school board.

Copyright 2000 Omaha World-Herald Company.