Board votes to expel student who brought a gun to school

By Jason Baker

Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District trustees on June 15 voted unanimously to expel a 14-year-old Los Gatos High School freshman who in April admitted to bringing a gun to school.

Superintendent Cynthia Ranii said the student may request readmission to the district after completing a one-year rehabilitation plan, which includes counseling, academic work and maintaining good behavior under educational supervision.

According to state law, an expulsion can last no more than one year. But during that time, Ranii said the student would not be allowed to attend either Los Gatos or Saratoga High Schools, or transfer to any mainstream public high school in another district. The student must attend an alternative school program that accepts students with disciplinary problems, similar to the community day school the LG-SUHSD is seeking to create this fall.

Ranii did not release the name of the student.

The incident came to light on April 26 after a parent told a Los Gatos-Monte Sereno 911 dispatcher her daughter heard from a student that he had brought a gun to school. Upon further investigation, police learned that other students had heard of a boy who had brought a gun to school some time after Christmas.

The boy admitted to bringing the gun to school for one day, and said that the gun was loaded, police said. They later determined that the boy had no plans to harm anyone at the school. Officials agreed the incident probably would not have come to light if not for the Columbine High School shootings.

Also on June 15, Dorothy Diekmann, director of business and operations for the district, updated trustees on the status of the district's Y2K compliance.

Diekmann said thorough upgrades had been performed on district servers, including an upgrade to the administrative server that will be completed and certified this fall. The district also has submitted notices to its vendors that they will not be paid unless they are certified Y2K compliant. "Anything that was a problem has been replaced," she said. "I think we're in good shape."

Ranii said the district does not anticipate any Y2K-related problems, but like the rest of the world, officials are doing their best to prepare. "We certainly hope there are no surprises," she said.

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