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Legal action taken after student who brought airsoft guns to school gets approved for return

According to Natomas Unified School District, the student had brought airsoft guns to school and wanted others to think he had a real gun.

NATOMAS, Sacramento — A decision by the Sacramento County Board of Education has prompted legal action from Natomas Unified School District, after a student who brought airsoft guns to school was approved for a school return.

According to the Natomas school district, the student's return on August 7 is due to a decision at the Sacramento County Board of Education [SCOE] on an expulsion appeal.

The district says the student had brought two airsoft handguns to Heron School twice and wanted others to believe he had a real gun. According to the district, he even dry fired the the airsoft gun without any loaded pellets.

In a community message, the district criticized the decision of SCOE claiming that they had "ignored evidence, used contradictory evidence," and "over-reached their authority". They announced that they would be taking legal action by filing petition for writ of mandate to overturn SCOE's decision.

In their message, the district said it was the correct decision to expel the student and added that they cannot tell how much of a risk that student is. They added that parents wouldn't cooperate with standard operating procedures to support a student who makes those kinds of decisions. 

Their community message referred to a previous expulsion challenge in 2018 where SCOE staff recommended overturning a decision on a student who was expelled after bringing a real gun to a school campus and posting on social media about it. 

According to the district, this was based on parents denying Natomas Unified a chance to get the student's statement while in juvenile hall being seen as a technical concern and reason to overturn the decision.

In their message, the district said this expulsion was upheld by the county board  and noted that the former student was arrested a couple months later for discharging firearm. The former student was sentence to over 9 years for the crime.

The district is concerned about the safety risk these two different expulsion cases pose to their students and staff.

In a response to the Natomas Unified's community message, the Sacramento County Office of Education sent the following statement to ABC10:

Natomas Unified School District’s “Community Message” is irresponsible and misleading. It selectively and misleadingly portrays information from a confidential student matter, without providing all the facts and circumstances.

Student safety is our primary concern. At the same time, we must protect the rights and privacy of all students. We cannot discuss all of the details of this matter because it involves a juvenile and it is confidential. However, regarding the expulsion case in question, the Sacramento County Board of Education determined the Natomas Unified School District did not prove what they set out to prove.

Before a student may be expelled from school, a school district must follow the law, including conducting a fair hearing, following the required legal procedures, showing that the student is a continuing danger, and basing its expulsion decision on sufficient, reliable facts.

The District apparently intends to seek review of the County Board’s decision through the proper legal process in Superior Court, therefore, we will not go into details of the administrative record at this time. However, we believe the record will demonstrate that the County Board’s appeal decision was appropriate and correct.

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