Girl expelled for writing story about killing teacher

Saturday, October 25, 2003 Posted: 12:58 AM EDT (0458 GMT)

Rachel Boim

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A high school freshman expelled for writing a fictional account of a student who falls asleep in class and dreams of killing a teacher can return to school Monday while officials reconsider the disciplinary action.

Rachel Boim, 14, who lived in the Denver area at the time of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, that left 15 dead, was expelled Wednesday from Roswell High School in this Atlanta suburb under the Fulton County School District's "zero tolerance" policy.

Rachel said Friday her story was not intended as a threat -- it was strictly a work of fiction -- and her father, David Boim, said he would challenge the decision as a violation of "the right to think and feel."

He said he understands the concerns of school administrators about even the most remote possible threats to teachers and other students, but "we also expected common sense to kick in at some point."

"A piece of literature is a piece of literature," David Boim said. "The question I asked the administrators the first day is, 'You're going to suspend my daughter because of something she wrote?'"

Rachel wrote the story in her personal journal and was showing it to a classmate. Her art teacher noticed, confiscated it and turned it over to school officials the next day.

"It was a story about a girl who falls asleep in class, dreams she kills her math teacher, then wakes up and nothing happens," she said.

Rachel was suspended her for 10 days for "inappropriate writings that describe the threat of bodily harm toward a school employee," school system spokeswoman Susan Hale told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and she was expelled after a hearing her father described as a travesty.

However, Hale said Friday that acting school superintendent Mike Vanairsdale temporarily rescinded the expulsion and Rachel will be allowed to return to class Monday. Hale said Vanairsdale will review the case and then recommend to the Fulton County Board of Education on whether to reinstate the expulsion.

"The interim superintendent, just came into office last night and wants to make sure he has all the facts in the case," Hale said.

Rachel said she plans to stay at Roswell High if allowed to. "I have a lot of really good friends that go to Roswell," she said.