NATOMAS, Sacramento — A school district effort to keep a student who brought airsoft guns to a Natomas school off the campus was denied by a judge, the Natomas Unified School District said.
The district had asked the judge to "stay" a Sacramento County Board of Education decision that overturned a student's expulsion at Heron School. The stay would have kept the student from attending Heron School until a final hearing and decision was made about the merits of the expulsion.
Natomas Unified disagreed with the decision, but said that they were obligated to follow court order.
However, the says the decision was not about whether expulsion overturn was the right decision or not.
Natomas Unified had issued a community message alerting people that a student who was expelled after bringing airsoft guns to school would be allowed to return due to a SCOE decision. The district had said in a community message that the student wanted others to believe he had a real gun.
Criticizing SCOE's decision, the district claimed SCOE had "ignored evidence, used contradictory evidence," and "over-reached their authority". The district also announced that they would be taking legal action by filing petition for writ of mandate to overturn SCOE's decision.
SCOE responded to the district's community message saying it was "irresponsible and misleading."
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In statement from Natomas Unified on the judge's decision about the "stay", the district also responded to SCOE's claims that they were trying to cite fear and unrest.
"We simply communicated the facts on an issue that was already being discussed in the Heron community by students and families. To ignore and not address their concerns would be irresponsible and in direct conflict with our commitment to open, transparent communication with our families," Natomas Unified said in the statement.