FOUR STUDENTS SUSPENDED FOR GUN INCIDENT; BOARD OF EDUCATION TO DECIDE FURTHER DISCIPLINARY ACTION

Four Cape Girardeau students were arrested Wednesday and face possible expulsion after handling a gun that was brought onto school grounds.

Central High School Principal Randie Fidler said a junior high school student stole a .25-caliber handgun from his home and took it to school with the intent to sell it to a high school student. The gun exchanged hands but the second student decided not to buy it.

In all, three junior high students and one high school student came into contact with the gun during school hours.

School officials learned of the gun's presence when an uninvolved student told a teacher, who then contacted Fidler. The student possessing the gun turned it over to administrators and school resource officer Barry Hovis after being approached during his physical education class at the high school.

"Our immediate information was it was just a show-and-tell situation and there was no other reason to be alarmed, other than that we had a weapon in the building," Fidler said. "It never had a clip or any shells or other firing capacities."

Fidler, who is in his second year as principal, said this is the first gun incident at the school he is aware of. He said the students were immediately arrested and suspended for 10 days according to district policy and the Safe Schools Act. They will appear before the Board of Education for further disciplinary action, which could result in either a minimum long-term suspension of 180 days or expulsion.

If either of the longer disciplinary actions are enforced, the students could find it difficult to enroll in another Missouri school. The Safe Schools Act requires Missouri schools to divulge disciplinary actions against a student when requested by another district within five days of the request. Districts are allowed to develop their own policy regarding enrolling students from other districts.

"Cape's policy is that we won't enroll students from another district while they are out on disciplinary action," Fidler said. "The Safe School Act is making us communicate now so we know what students have done when they move."

An investigation into the incident is ongoing. Fidler said the staff's reaction to the incident indicated that professional training for possibly violent school incidents is paying off.

"I was impressed with the way our staff reacted," he said. "They thought it'd never happen here, but with the type of peer pressure kids are encountering these days, we have to be prepared for the fact that it will happen."