School Called ‘Fine’ After Gun Incident : Pacoima: Little impact is seen at Telfair Avenue Elementary after child brought weapon onto campus, officials say.

The 7-year-old who brought a gun to school and showed it to classmates was a second-grader at Telfair Avenue Elementary in Pacoima, where school officials said Tuesday the incident has had little impact on the campus.

“I was at the school this morning and everything was fine,” said Maria Reza, who oversees 19 Pacoima and San Fernando campuses. “Everything is normal there.”

Reza and other Los Angeles Unified School District officials said they have been told to keep confidential the details of the Jan. 18 incident and that a school district investigation is continuing. The child’s name has not been released.

But the case, which involves the youngest student to be caught with a gun on a Los Angeles Unified campus, poses a dilemma for the Board of Education. The board, which has had a zero-tolerance policy requiring all students with weapons to be expelled, agreed Monday to consider an exception to that rule.

The board is expected to consider the case March 13 at a special meeting.

Board member Jeff Horton, who consistently votes against expelling students under the age of 16, said Tuesday he believes the board should permanently reassign the second-grader to another district campus.

“I just think it’s always better to have kids supervised,” Horton said. “It’s not an ideal situation, by any means, to throw these kids out of school. Nobody thinks that’s good, not even the board members who vote” in favor of the expulsions.

At Monday’s meeting, school board members said they would consider altering their policy because of the student’s age. Board President Mark Slavkin said he is conflicted by the case but does not want to diminish the school district’s zero-tolerance policy.

The boy, whose parents did not attend the meeting Monday, told district administrators that his father gave him the gun--unloaded--and that he believed it was a toy.

Horton said the case underscores the problems facing schools today. “It is appalling,” Horton said. “We can’t handle it all in the schools. What lessons is that boy learning--from his parents and from us?”

The board adopted its tough stance against weapons following two deadly shootings two years ago, at Fairfax and Reseda high schools. Under the policy, all students--regardless of age--are expelled for carrying firearms on campus. Exceptions have been made for BB guns and toy guns.