First-grader takes knife to school, is suspended

Published 11:41 am Thursday, September 1, 2011

A Dana Road Elementary first-grader who took a knife to school Tuesday has been suspended at least for today while an investigation is completed, Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Duran Swinford said this morning.

The boy, whose age was not available, apparently kept the knife in his backpack throughout the day until it was spotted by a fourth-grader on a school bus after school, Swinford said.

The kitchen knife was taken from the child without incident, she said, and no injuries were reported.

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“The fourth-grader took it from the first-grader and gave it to the bus driver,” she said.

The child was allowed to attend school the day after the knife was found because the school’s principal, Dr. Ethel Lassiter, was out Wednesday and appropriate reports were not filed with the district office, Swinford said.

The investigation, led by district chief resource officer Dewayne Sims, so far has found that the child did not brandish the knife or show it to anyone while at school, Swinford said.

The district’s policy is to suspend a student who takes a weapon on campus, she said. The length of the suspension depends on what the investigation finds was the intent.