School officials must stick to policy

There was a time when students routinely carried pocket knives to school. Those times have passed.

Last month, when authorities at Northwestern High School found a pocket knife in the bed of a pickup belonging to Eric Chandler Helms, 16, the junior was immediately suspended. Then, after a disciplinary hearing, he was expelled for the remainder of the school year for breaking school policy regarding possessing weapons at school.

The family hopes to appeal the expulsion and has circulated a petition asking the school to reconsider, which, as of last week, had nearly 2,500 signatures.

Sometimes blanket regulations regarding students who bring harmful objects to school can defy common sense. Students shouldn’t be expelled for bringing nail clippers or a plastic jelly knife to school.

But the nation has lost its innocence – over and over again – when it comes to weapons at school. Schools no longer can afford to assume that bringing a knife or some other prohibited object to school is an honest mistake as opposed to a security threat.

Helms’ mother, Tabatha Pruitt, said her son is an avid outdoorsman who has had a pocket knife since he was 6 years old. She said leaving the knife in the back of the pickup was an accident.

We have no reason to dispute that. And, judging from the response to the petition, hundreds of other people think it’s a reasonable explanation.

At the same time, we can’t assume that the school weapons policy is unreasonable in this case. As district spokesperson Mychal Frost noted, schools have to take the presence on school property of a knife with a blade length of more than two inches seriously.

To do otherwise would be irresponsible. Even a pocket knife can cause severe harm in the wrong hands.

Nor can school authorities take Helms’ explanation or that of his mother at face value, despite their apparent sincerity. And many students nationwide who have never been in trouble at school or shown an inclination toward violence before have ended up attacking fellow students or teachers.

We hope, however, that Helms can make a persuasive case at the hearing and that school officials are able to fairly and reasonably conclude that this was simply a mistake. Expulsion seems like too harsh a punishment if that is the case.

But let’s not forget that we demand that our schools do whatever is necessary to keep students safe from armed intruders, including other students. The nation has witnessed too many mass shootings and other acts of violence at schools to be complacent about the threat of weapons on campus.

Schools set policies that are designed to apply to all students. They can’t make exceptions based on a hunch or pleading from parents.

We can’t return to more innocent days when kids routinely brought pocket knives to school. Those days are gone forever.

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 6:47 PM with the headline "School officials must stick to policy."