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Teacher's BB gun closes school
He brought it as study aid, and is put on leave
January 31, 2003
By NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A veteran Plymouth High School physics teacher has been put on paid leave after he brought a BB gun to high school for a class experiment.
Thursday around 6:30 a.m., a mother dropping off her teen at Plymouth High in Canton spotted a man entering the school and carrying what she thought was a rifle, school officials and police said.
The woman called Canton police, who promptly sent several officers to the school. Plymouth is one of three high schools that make up an educational complex of about 5,100 students.
Traffic was backed up as officers locked down the school. Students were herded into classrooms. Officers went room-to-room in search of the gun.
The teacher handed over his BB gun, which was locked in a cabinet, said Jim Ryan, superintendent of Plymouth-Canton Community Schools.
By 7:30 a.m., everything was back to normal.
Ryan said the teacher, whose name is not beingreleased, had used a BB gun for 20 years at Canton High to demonstrate the physics of velocity. But he recently was assigned to a new building at Plymouth High.
"He's saddened and puzzled," Ryan said, describing the teacher's reaction to the incident. "He's taking it as seriously as we are."
The school put the teacher on paid leave pending the outcome of an investigation.
The teacher will be on leave "as long as it takes us to finish the investigation" -- which will be at least three days, Ryan said.
Canton Police Lt. Patrick Nemecek said a report will be completed and forwarded to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. It's unclear whether any charges will be filed against the teacher, he added.
Since the Columbine shooting incident in 1999, schools across the country have been on heightened alert.
Ryan said that if a teacher or anyone decides to bring a weapon to school, they should first let the administration know. For example, if a historian or teacher wanted to re-enact part of the U.S. Civil War, he or she could bring a weapon -- provided it wasn't loaded or fired, Ryan said.
Plymouth High, along with Canton High and Salem High, make up an educational campus setting in Canton Township. On Thursday, the principals of the three schools sent a letter to parents that described the incident.
The letter read, in part: "We are extremely proud of the way our students and staff handled this situation. The health and safety of our students is most important to us, and our partnership with the Canton Township Police department proved very valuable today."
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/bb31_20030131.htm
He brought it as study aid, and is put on leave
January 31, 2003
By NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A veteran Plymouth High School physics teacher has been put on paid leave after he brought a BB gun to high school for a class experiment.
Thursday around 6:30 a.m., a mother dropping off her teen at Plymouth High in Canton spotted a man entering the school and carrying what she thought was a rifle, school officials and police said.
The woman called Canton police, who promptly sent several officers to the school. Plymouth is one of three high schools that make up an educational complex of about 5,100 students.
Traffic was backed up as officers locked down the school. Students were herded into classrooms. Officers went room-to-room in search of the gun.
The teacher handed over his BB gun, which was locked in a cabinet, said Jim Ryan, superintendent of Plymouth-Canton Community Schools.
By 7:30 a.m., everything was back to normal.
Ryan said the teacher, whose name is not beingreleased, had used a BB gun for 20 years at Canton High to demonstrate the physics of velocity. But he recently was assigned to a new building at Plymouth High.
"He's saddened and puzzled," Ryan said, describing the teacher's reaction to the incident. "He's taking it as seriously as we are."
The school put the teacher on paid leave pending the outcome of an investigation.
The teacher will be on leave "as long as it takes us to finish the investigation" -- which will be at least three days, Ryan said.
Canton Police Lt. Patrick Nemecek said a report will be completed and forwarded to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. It's unclear whether any charges will be filed against the teacher, he added.
Since the Columbine shooting incident in 1999, schools across the country have been on heightened alert.
Ryan said that if a teacher or anyone decides to bring a weapon to school, they should first let the administration know. For example, if a historian or teacher wanted to re-enact part of the U.S. Civil War, he or she could bring a weapon -- provided it wasn't loaded or fired, Ryan said.
Plymouth High, along with Canton High and Salem High, make up an educational campus setting in Canton Township. On Thursday, the principals of the three schools sent a letter to parents that described the incident.
The letter read, in part: "We are extremely proud of the way our students and staff handled this situation. The health and safety of our students is most important to us, and our partnership with the Canton Township Police department proved very valuable today."
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/bb31_20030131.htm
