LAGUNA NIGUEL : Boy Who Took Gun to School Expelled

Citing a “zero tolerance” policy toward weapons and drugs, trustees in the Capistrano Unified School District have expelled a 13-year-old Niguel Hills Middle School student who brought a loaded handgun to campus in March after a classmate allegedly threatened him.

The unanimous action Monday night came following an unprecedented expulsion hearing made public at the request of the boy’s father, Mark Lopez.

During the hearing, Lopez said that his son should be expelled for making a “horrible mistake,” but he argued that school officials could have done more to prevent the March 1 incident, which he claimed was fueled by the racist threats of another student.

“Every child deserves to go to school at a safe campus,” Lopez said.

While agreeing that students deserve safe campuses, trustees said school officials are doing the best they can with limited resources to prevent violence and racial intolerance.

“The best means we have to ensure a safe campus is to expel any student who brings a weapon to school,” Board of Trustees President Marlene Draper said.

Since being arrested by sheriff’s deputies, the teen-age boy has admitted to possessing a loaded weapon on campus, which is a felony, and is serving a 120-day sentence in Orange County Juvenile Hall, his father said.

The boy, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, will be allowed to reapply to the district in the spring of 1994 at the end of the two-semester expulsion term.