Suspension Over Air Gun Upheld

The Ventura Unified School District board Tuesday upheld the suspension of a 17-year-old honor student who brought a plastic air gun to campus last month to use in an anti-drug film.

In a 4-0 vote, with one member abstaining, the board ruled that Foothill Technology High School junior Paul Houchin must finish the spring semester through independent-study courses offered at another district campus.

If he is successful, Houchin can return to Foothill in the fall and the matter will be expunged from his school record. A mistake could result in permanent expulsion, according to the decision. The board could have expelled him outright.

Houchin, flanked by his parents and attorney Barbara Macri-Ortiz, said he was disappointed he was not fully exonerated but glad the matter was over.

The award-winning yearbook staffer also said he was surprised by the attention his case drew. More than 400 students signed a petition calling for his reinstatement, and several teachers and school officials testified for him at two hearings.

“It was such a little thing I did that I didn’t expect people to react the way they did,” Houchin said.

Macri-Ortiz described the decision as a defeat and said she would advise Houchin’s parents on their right to appeal to the county’s Board of Education.

“I think it [the decision] reflects a paranoia in today’s society that we cannot deal with children as children and that we have to cut off heads,” she said.

Carol Woo, the district’s attorney, argued during her closing remarks that schools need to be “hyper-vigilant” of student and staff safety and that imitation weapons “exacerbate incidents of violence.”

“We teach children to be good children by teaching them to follow the rules,” Woo told the board. She argued that even though students and educators believed Houchin was no longer a threat to campus safety, his suspension was necessary to send a message to other students about the severity of bringing weapons onto campuses.

Houchin was temporarily suspended March 10 for bringing the imitation weapon -- which looks like a steel, semiautomatic handgun -- on campus. He had intended to use the weapon in an anti-drug video that he and some classmates planned to film off campus after school.

Houchin testified at an earlier hearing that he forgot to leave the air gun in his truck, which was parked off campus, and discovered it inside his backpack during a second-period geometry class.

A teacher’s assistant overheard Houchin discussing his dilemma with a classmate and she notified campus authorities.

Houchin was taken to the police station and fingerprinted but not arrested because possessing an air gun, which can be purchased at local sporting goods stores, is not illegal. School officials, though, citing district policy and state education codes, opted to suspend Houchin.

With its decision, the board modified a lower panel’s recommendation that Houchin be returned to school immediately, perform 40 hours of community service and have the matter placed on his permanent record.