ACLU Report Challenges School District Gun Policy

The Los Angeles school district should scrap or change the way it conducts student metal detector searches and should re-examine what may be an unconstitutional policy of expelling youths caught with real or toy guns, according to a study to be released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Requiring automatic expulsion of students who bring guns to school is tantamount to “academic capital punishment” that strips students of their constitutional right to due process. It potentially condemns a student “to a life even more disadvantaged than (it) might have been otherwise,” the report by the ACLU’s Southern California chapter states.

Between Feb. 1--when the policy was adopted by the Board of Education--and May 17, the board had expelled 90 students for gun possession, double the number over the same period last year.

The report also found that the number of African-American students expelled is disproportionate. While they make up 15% of the senior high school population, they accounted for 33% of the expulsions.

The district policy of straight expulsion “makes a mockery” of due process because the penalty is predetermined, the report said.

ACLU attorney Sylvia Argueta said that the school board hastily adopted the policy “to placate the general public and parents” after two fatal shootings at Fairfax and Reseda high schools. She added that the board did not adequately consider the “detrimental effects” of the rule.

School board member Mark Slavkin, who initiated a task force to study school violence, said Tuesday that he “stands firm on the policy” and that it does not violate due process. Board members contend that the policy must be tough to ensure campus safety.

Board member Jeff Horton has opposed the policy, saying that punishment must be individually determined.

Under the rule, after listening to the student, parents and staff, a principal must determine that a student has brought a gun or replica to school. The case is then turned over to a three-member district committee that reviews the principal’s findings. If the committee agrees, it must recommend expulsion. The school board has the final say.

The report found at least six cases in which civil rights attorneys were called to investigate a student expulsion. In one case a 14-year-old boy at John Adams Junior High School faced expulsion after he found a toy gun in his classroom and was playing with it. The youth was allowed back to school after legal intervention.

The civil rights organization has not ruled out the possibility of a lawsuit to overturn the policy.

The group’s three-month review of district school safety issues also found “major discrepancies” in metal detector searches at high schools, where many staff members complained that they have not been adequately trained in use of the hand-held devices and often must conduct questionable searches of students’ personal belongings.

It found that some students, especially those who spoke limited English, did not understand why they were being searched.

The report concluded that both the metal detector and expulsion policies do little to address the root causes of school violence and that more money and attention should be given to teaching students how to resolve conflict peacefully.