Story Archive

Upping the Ante

Seventh-grader Khalid Caraballo and two friends have been suspended from Larkspur Middle School in Virginia Beach, Va., after playing with an “airsoft” gun before school — not during school hours, and not on school grounds. Caraballo was, in fact, in his own front yard. “This is not a real [gun],” a neighbor told police in a 911 call, “but it makes people uncomfortable.” She reported that “It looks like there’s a target in a tree in his front yard.” Online forums went wild when school officials suspended the boys for “possession, handling and use of a firearm,” and there was speculation that the boys would be expelled for the entire school year. At a hearing, though, the boys were not expelled, but rather suspended — for the entire school year. School officials had Caraballo’s mother sign a release so they could tell the media their side of the story. They claimed that the boys were “shooting an airsoft gun at people near a school bus stop,” but none of the witnesses, including the 911 caller, support that. Armed with the mother’s release, the School Board Chairman played dirty: Daniel Edwards posted Caraballo’s disciplinary record online, and commented, “This was not zero tolerance at all. This was a measured response to a threat to student safety.” Kahlid said that was unfair, because “it had nothing to do with an airsoft gun or me playing in my front yard.” (RC/WAVY Portsmouth) ...And the next federal lawsuit should be filed in 5... 4... 3....