Officials Won’t Say If Boy Will Be Expelled : Schools: Critics contend parents should know whether the Sylmar youth in last week’s BB gun incident will attend an L. A. district campus.

An 11-year-old Sylmar boy who allegedly threatened a classmate with a BB gun last week will not immediately return to Herrick Avenue Elementary School, but officials declined Wednesday to divulge whether they would recommend that the child be expelled from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Principal Ron Felt said he was still completing his recommendation but that he could not reveal its contents under state education regulations prohibiting the release of information on students.

“The recommendation will be strictly confidential,” he said. “I assure parents that our campus is completely safe. I have fully investigated the matter, and everything is being done appropriately.”

However, some questioned keeping the recommendation secret, saying parents should be notified so they could be certain of the safety of their children and other students.

“That’s information that should be released, as long as the name of the child is not used,” said Board of Education member Roberta Weintraub. “That’s a very serious thing that the child is alleged to have done.”

According to police and school officials, the sixth-grade boy--whose identity has been withheld because of his age--aimed an unloaded, inoperative BB gun at a classmate last Friday and threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about the gun, a replica of a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

Los Angeles police are seeking charges in Juvenile Court.

Investigators are asking that the boy be charged with exhibiting a replica of a firearm in a threatening manner.

The boy has been suspended from school since Monday.

Assistant Supt. Sara A. Coughlin, who oversees the San Fernando Valley’s elementary schools, confirmed Wednesday that the child would not return to Herrick Avenue when the suspension is lifted at the end of this week.

“He will not go back to that school,” Coughlin said, adding that other options are being explored, including home schooling.

It was unclear how long the boy would be barred from attending Herrick Avenue in Sylmar.

Under state law, Felt has first say about whether the student should be removed from the district.

If the principal recommends expulsion, the case then goes for review to a district disciplinary committee.

The committee would be bound to uphold the recommendation according to a newly toughened weapons policy mandating expulsion for at least two semesters for any students caught with guns at school.

Previously, the district allowed students under 16 to be transferred to other campuses.

The Sylmar boy, if ejected from the system, would be the youngest student expelled for such an offense.

Although Felt declined to reveal his ruling, one parent said the principal told her that the boy is to be expelled, pending final approval by the Board of Education.

“This is what the parents of Herrick Avenue think right now,” said Mary Haberman, president of the campus Parent Teacher Assn. “Nobody has told us differently . . . I will be very upset if this child is back in the school system.”

However, Felt denied telling parents that the boy would be expelled, saying he simply assured them that he was investigating last Friday’s incident and would deal with it appropriately.

SCHOOL GUN POLICY

Los Angeles Unified School District policy on students found to be in possession of a gun: The revised policy will require an expulsion review committee to recommend outright expulsion, without the possibility of a less stringent penalty, regardless of student’s age or grade level.