Area student suspended for dummy grenade
A Kosciusko County school used a fire drill to evacuate students after a 14-year-old boy brought a non-functioning grenade inside the building.
Kosciusko County sheriff’s deputies were called just before 9 a.m. Monday to Milford School, 611 W. Emeline St., in Milford, for a report from school officials that a student had a grenade, according to Sgt. Chad Hill, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department.
A teacher found the dummy grenade in the student’s backpack after another student told school officials the 14-year-old showed it to him on the way to school, deputies said.
The 14-year-old boy, who has been suspended, said a family member had purchased the dummy grenade at a gun and knife show and had given it to him as a present. A deputy determined the grenade was non-functioning.
Cynthia Kaiser, Milford principal, said the school underwent a monthly fire drill around the same time the student was found to have the grenade.
“It (the fire drill) was a way to have the students exit the building,” she said, adding that the students were outside for about three to four minutes.
Thomas Edington, Wawasee Community Schools superintendent, said evacuations, such as a fire drill, are put in place for just this type of situation – to keep students out of possible harm’s way.
“If a student would have something that isn’t a weapon, but that could be characterized … that (way) that would be against our policies because they would have created something that would disrupt the school environment and safety,” Edington said. “The youngster certainly used poor judgment.”
The boy will not be criminally charged but was ordered by school administrators to serve a 10-day suspension from school, Hill said.
“There’s no law about having an inert device like that,” he said. “It’s against the school policy.”
Milford School has about 620 students enrolled in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.
A Bryan, Ohio, man is charged with endangering a child in the death of his 4-month-old son this week.Police declined to comment on the case, saying it is under investigation.