A Georgia student, Jack Persyn, was in chess club before one of his classes, where he discovered a short knife in a bag that he brought to school one day.
The bag was purchased from a yard sale by Persyn’s aunt, who gave the bag to the teenager before checking the contents of the bag first. Persyn decided to tell one of his teachers at Lanier Middle School that he accidentally brought the knife to class. By doing so, Persyn received a four-day in-school suspension, a punishment that his father Bill Persyn says is excessive.
“There was never a safety issue,” Persyn said. “No harm was done. It was a genuine honest mistake, yet he got pulled out of class for four days. I can see a one-hour detention if they had to do something, but this is nonsensical.”
A statement was issued by the Gwinnett schools, by director of media relations Jorge Quintana:
“Gwinnett County Public Schools does not have a zero-tolerance policy. We look at situations individually and take appropriate disciplinary action. While we are not at liberty to confirm or discuss the discipline this young man faces, we know our administrators followed procedures as stated in the Student Conduct Code.
The rules call for more severe action against those students who do not self-report weapons they have in their possession. It’s important to understand that these rules are in place, in part, to prevent future incidents and rule violations. Without these rules in place, others could easily claim they were not aware of what they had in their possession.”
