Two Poplar Bluff students suspended for having BB gun on school bus

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Two Poplar Bluff Junior High students were suspended Thursday morning for having a BB gun on a school bus.

The BB gun was discovered when staff members reviewed a video taken Wednesday afternoon by bus cameras after receiving a tip about an unrelated matter, according to Superintendent Ernie Lawson.

"Every school bus has a camera in the front and back," Lawson explained. "(We) reviewed the tape and saw something being handed from one kid to anther."

When staff members stopped the tape and enlarged the frame, they realized the object was a BB gun.

Students initially tried to deny what happened, Lawson said, but the incident was caught on tape.

R-I placed video cameras on all school buses at the beginning of this year with funds received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"The cameras catch a lot of stuff," Lawson said.

The student who initially had the BB gun had skipped school Wednesday, but boarded a bus at the high school, Lawson said. Administrators do not know if the BB gun was in a school building.

"But it was on school grounds and that is an automatic 10 day suspension," Lawson said.

Juvenile authorities have been notified about the incident. The school is required to do this when a student violates the safe schools act, Lawson said.

It has not been determined how long the students will be suspended or what they intended to do with the BB gun, he said.

"We have 10 days to investigate," Lawson said. "We'll try to get all of the information."