Education

Student Suspended For Leaving Hunting Bow In Truck

MILACA, Minn. (WCCO) ― A high school student in Milaca, Minn. was suspended from class, after leaving his hunting bow in his truck that was parked at school.

Keith Larson hasn't been to school in a week-and-a-half and he's missed football practice, among many other things.

One morning Larson drove to school with a bow and arrow set in the back of his Ford Explorer. It was all covered up, just sitting in the back end.

"No. I didn't plan nothing to use it. I just forgot it in the back of my vehicle," he said. Larson said had been on a hunting trip a few days before with his buddy.

He said the second he remembered he had the bow, he reported it to his teacher in the very first five minutes of class at Milaca High School. But Larson said that she didn't report the bow to administrators right away.

"And then halfway through the last hour of the day the principal came and called me down, and came and took it out of my vehicle, and told me I was getting suspended and possibly expelled," Larson recalled.

Principal Troy Anderson said the school has a strict, zero-tolerance policy. He said students know they can't bring a weapon to school.

"Our kids at Milaca High School should know what the expectations are," said Anderson. "In my mind is a bow a weapon? In my mind, it is."

There are exceptions to the zero-tolerance rule. Part of the code states:

"If it would be impractical or dangerous to take the weapon to the principal's office, a student shall not be considered to possess a weapon if he or she immediately turns the weapon over to an administrator, teacher or head coach or immediately notifies an administrator, teacher or head coach of the weapon's location."

The principal would not talk about specifics of this case, and whether it falls into that exception, but Larson isn't afraid to say how he feels about the situation and his teacher.

"I think it was a little harsh," he remarked. "If we had zero-tolerance, she should have had reported it immediately after I told her, not at the end of the day, because if I was going to do something, I had all day to do it."

According to Anderson, Larson will not be expelled, but he won't be able to go back to school until next Wednesday.

He hasn't gotten his bow back, and if he doesn't he'll have to spend $1,000 to buy a new one.

Larson is a senior, football player and the captain of his wrestling team at Milaca High School. He's also nominated to be Homecoming King. After all this, he's left wondering if being honest really is the best policy.

 

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