Originally published March 9 2005
Florida 7th-grader suspended from school for threatening teacher with rubber band
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Robert Gomez, a 13-year-old boy attending Liberty Middle School, has been suspended for 10 days for allegedly threatening his science teacher with a rubber band. Gomez says he only tossed the rubber band on the teacher’s desk when she demanded it to be removed from his wrist. The school, according to Gomez’ mother, claims that if he aimed it more, Gomez would have hit the teacher directly in the eye.
A 13-year-old student in Orange County, Fla., was suspended for 10 days and could be banned from school over an alleged assault with a rubber band, according to a WKMG Local 6 News report.
Robert Gomez, a seventh-grader at Liberty Middle School, said he picked up a rubber band at school and slipped it on his wrist.
Gomez said when his science teacher demanded the rubber band, the student said he tossed it on her desk.
After the incident, Gomez received a 10-day suspension for threatening his teacher with what administrators say was a weapon, Local 6 News reported.
"They said if he would have aimed it a little more and he would have gotten it closer to her face he would have hit her in the eye," mother Jenette Rojas said.
Rojas said she was shocked to learn that her son was being punished for a Level 4 offense -- the highest Level at the school.
Other violations that also receive level 4 punishment include arson, assault and battery, bomb threats and explosives, according to the Code of Student Conduct.
The district said a Level 4 offense includes the use of any object or instrument used to make a threat or inflict harm, including a rubber band.
Rojas plans to fight the ruling but her son still faces expulsion.
The school's principal could not comment because the case is still under investigation.
A district spokesman said there is still a series of meetings the district will have before Gomez is officially expelled.
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