Gun Possession Must Trigger Expulsion : School Board Member Korenstein Is Right to Insist on a Strict Policy

Los Angeles school board member Julie Korenstein is rightly determined to get guns off city campuses. She is urging the board to adopt a tough but fair policy that would mandate automatic expulsion of students who bring guns to school. Korenstein is fearful for the district’s unarmed students, and with some justification. Too many students are bringing something other than books and bag lunches to school.

No one should quarrel with a policy of expulsion for students who carry guns. But the school district would also expel students who seriously injure another person on campus, whether a weapon is used or not. The definition of serious injury would parallel the penal code. The policy would also cover students who use a weapon in a manner likely to cause serious bodily injury to another person. The strict guidelines are warranted to make local campuses safer.

The reports of gun possession on or near campuses increased by 8% for the 1988-89 school year, according to the state Department of Education. That increase pales in comparison to the 271% jump in reports of firearms possessions over the last four years.

Assaults with other weapons declined slightly for the past school year, but that category increased by 122% over the last four years, according to a state survey released in April. The increase warrants a stronger policy.

Korenstein addressed school violence after a ninth-grade student knifed a teacher last year at a San Fernando Valley junior high school. Her task force on school safety recommended, among many preventive strategies, automatic expulsion for students who bring any weapon to school. The school board rejected that recommendation as too broad.

Korenstein’s proposal, which is scheduled for a vote on June 25, would narrow the automatic expulsion to students who bring weapons like guns to schools and use them against others. An expulsion committee would review any extenuating circumstances, like protection, but the exceptions should be few.

There is a need for alternatives for troubled students, but there is no extra money in the budget to pay for all that is needed. Armed and violent youngsters should not be cast off to the streets.

Expelling students is a difficult and, in some cases, heart-wrenching decision. But the school board must balance the safety of the vast majority of students against the needs of a few who require special help. No guns should be tolerated on any campus for any reason.