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Gun-wielding girl student expelled

Anika Mehta has learned the hard way that it doesn't pay to do a friend a favour.

The 17-year-old junior of Hinsdale Central High School was suspended last month for bringing a revolver to the school grounds.

Mehta and her friend, Michelle Williams, also 17, were charged with "unlawful possession of weapons" after police found a .38 calibre revolver in the trunk of Williams's car in the school parking lot. Mehta reportedly had the gun in her possession earlier.

Though her parents had filed a lawsuit in June challenging the school's refusal to allow her to take her final exams during the ten-day suspension, the school did not relent.

Instead, the school board went a step further on Monday expelling her for a year. It asserted that the expulsion was directed by "actions that constituted gross misconduct".

The State of Illinois allows for a two-year expulsion for possession of weapons on school grounds.

Williams was suspended, but not expelled, since she is a Special Education student and therefore falls under different rules that do not allow for her expulsion.

Williams had given the gun to Mehta and asked her to keep it in her home over the weekend. The gun had been stolen by Williams's male friend, also a 17-year-old from the same school, from a home in Williambrook, Illinois. He reportedly gave it to Williams because he was afraid the police were on to him.

Williams picked up Mehta from her home on Monday and drove her to school. Mehta had the gun in her purse. At the parking lot, Williams took the gun from the purse and put it in a backpack in the trunk of her car.

According to Sergeant Paul Lambert of the Hinsdale police department, the school's resource officer and Detective Tom Yehl were in the school investigating another case when they got word that a student had a gun in her possession.

They searched Williams's car and found the gun.

When it was discovered that Anika Mehta also had the gun in her possession at one time, she and Williams were charged with "unlawful possession of firearms", arrested and later released. Yehl said Mehta had been aware that the gun had been stolen when she agreed to keep it in her house.

Steven Glink, a lawyer who specializes in school discipline cases and who is representing Mehta, will now file an amended complaint challenging the suspension and the expulsion.

"The board has certain powers, but in this case it has not been used in a reasonable manner and is too severe," he said. "Anika's involvement is limited in this case, so her expulsion and making her miss her exams is not reasonable. Expulsion is like the death penalty of education. It should be used in the most extreme and serious circumstances."

The case is expected to come up for hearing on August 15.

While admitting that most judges did not like to overrule school districts' decisions on discipline, Glink was hopeful that the judge would allow Mehta to make up her exams.

Before resorting to the lawsuit, the parents had asked for a temporary restraining order, which would allow Mehta to take her exams during the suspension period. The request was denied by the Hinsdale Central principal, Jim Ferguson, who asserts, "We have a policy that when students are suspended, they cannot make up work they have missed during their suspension. The school had the opportunity to expel Anika for 2 years, but they did it for one year. They must have a reason for that."

Mehta was also allowed by the board at Monday's meeting to get credit for the courses she had completed in the second semester of her junior year.

Anika's parents declined to be interviewed. According to Glink, "Anika is very, very distraught. Her parents have very high expectations of her. She feels terrible that she disappointed her parents.

"She is a very nice girl, who is also very shy. She did not give a thought to the possible consequences. She was trying to do her friend a favour, but she was not very smart about it."

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