A fourth grader at Dyer Elementary School in Burlington has been suspended for a week after pulling a knife on a classmate and threatening to kill him in the parent pickup line Thursday afternoon. The victim's mother is now questioning the principal's decision not to refer the boy for an expulsion hearing.
The boy, 10, brought a small pocketknife to school Thursday and, after classes had ended, confronted the victim, 9, about possibly talking to a third boy who had been bullying them both.
When the victim insisted that he was not friends with the bully, the boy pulled out his pocketknife and allegedly told him, "Good, because I was going to kill you [if you were]."
The mother immediately informed Dyer Elementary administration, which suspended the boy for a week. The Burlington Police Department also responded to the scene, but declined to take the boy into custody or refer criminal or juvenile charges against him because of his age.
The Burlington Area School District's kindergarten-fifth grade student handbook "prohibits students from possessing, storing, making, or using a weapon in any setting that is under the control and supervision of the District" and requires the superintendent to "refer any student who violates this policy to the student’s parents and may also make a referral to law enforcement. The student may also be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including expulsion."
Burlington Superintendent Dr. Jill Oelslager has not yet responded to a request for comment on why the student was not referred for an expulsion hearing.