A 16-year-old Columbia Falls High School student faces expulsion after inadvertently bringing an unloaded hunting rifle to school.
Shortly after school officials announced on Dec. 1 that contraband-sniffing dogs were at school, she remembered the rifle in her car trunk and told the school secretary. The secretary said she would get the message to the principal.
Not long after, assistant principal Scott Gaiser told her she was suspended and faced at least a 21-day expulsion. A hearing is set for Monday night.
The federal Guns-Free Schools Act sets a one-year expulsion in such cases, but allows trustees to modify the term of the expulsion on a case-by-case basis.
Superintendent Michael Nicosia says the administration won’t recommend a yearlong suspension.