District settles 'egg-shooter' case for $10,000

Montgomery ? Last June, a Valley Central High School student blasted a frozen egg through the windows of a school bus using a high-powered spud gun.
Glass showered students on the bus. One boy was sent to the hospital.
Now, in a turn of events that has some parents steaming, the school district is paying $10,000 to cover the young egg-shooter's attorney's fees.
The school board decided early this week to settle a federal case filed by the shooter's father rather than go to court. The case charged the school district with trampling the student's rights by suspending him from school.
That's because after the shooting, the 17-year-old student ? whose name is being withheld because of his age ? was arrested by Montgomery police and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. He agreed to pay restitution and do community service.
But the school superintendent also dealt punishment, suspending the student for five months even though the boy was not on school grounds when he shot the egg.
Fair?
The boy's father didn't think so. Neither did attorney Michael Sussman, who represented him in the dispute.
"The (family's) principal objective was to have (the boy) come back into school and continue his wrestling career to gain a college scholarship," Sussman said, adding that the district didn't have a policy dealing with students who attack school property while off school grounds.
"If you get in fight at the mall," Sussman said, "that doesn't mean the school can be involved" in doling out punishment.
A judge in January ordered an injunction that permitted the boy to return to school a month early. Sussman said the judge believed the student did not intend to shoot the bus.
So rather than dish out more money to fight in court, the school board settled, agreeing to let the student stay in school and to pay $10,000 for the boy's attorney's fees. (The district will actually pay $2,500; the district's insurance will pay the rest.)
School board President Robert Santo, who has heard the complaints from taxpayers, said it was a money issue.
"Sometimes pragmatism wins over your morals," he said.

< A blow against totalitarianism. Damned right the school doesn't have the right to mete out it's own punishment for non-school activities. The person who raised, maide, and carried out his suspension should be suspended. >