A student who kept pictures of weapons in his school locker said he feels vindicated after a judge overturned his expulsion from Palatine High School.
“Justice is finally served,” Patrick Bryant said Tuesday.
Bryant was expelled in February 2001 after police searching his locker found a doodle of a gun, a photo of two swords, an essay defending the right to bear arms and another writing assignment that mentioned weapons, according to his lawyer.
On Friday, Cook County Circuit Judge Nancy Arnold said Bryant’s expulsion was “arbitrary and capricious” and not supported by the evidence.
But Bryant, a 16-year-old junior, is still trying to get back into the school.
His mother, Mary Bryant, went to the school Tuesday to re-enroll him, hoping he could start there Wednesday after a year in an alternative school. But she was turned away to await the district’s discussions with its lawyers.
“That’s not fair at all,” she said. “I don’t think they have any realization of what this does to a child. Once you expel them, you’ve taken them away from their friends and their social activities.”
“We want to comply with the law but we also need to make sure we are acting in an appropriate manner with regard to all of our students,” Associate Supt. Bob Rozycki said. The district has 30 days to appeal the judge’s ruling, and the school board will meet with attorneys Thursday to discuss options, said the district’s attorney, Todd Faulkner.
The family’s attorney, Steve Glink, said he plans to go back to court Wednesday and ask the judge to order the boy’s return to school.
The Township High School District 211 Board had put the expulsion on hold as long as Bryant enrolled in Connections Day School, a school for students with emotional and behavioral problems, according to the lawsuit filed by the family against the district. Bryant now attends that alternative school.
In the lawsuit and early media accounts, Bryant was identified only as “Patrick B.” But in the days since Arnold’s ruling, Bryant and his family have been speaking freely to the media, hoping to get their side of the story out.
“I’m just glad we finally got the case heard, and it was found the school wrongly expelled him,” his mother said. “He’ll be going back. We feel bad he missed out on normal high school life.”
Glink said he understood the district’s decision in light of school shootings across the country.
“But I think they were wrong, and so did the judge,” he said.
Bryant’s mother still thinks the district overreacted.
“He shows an interest in guns,” she said. “He wants to join the Marines. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Because you’re interested in firearms … doesn’t mean you’re going around killing people.”
Arnold said the district failed to prove Bryant threatened any students on school grounds and said having photos and literature about guns was not enough to support expulsion.
After the locker search, police searched Bryant’s bedroom and found fireworks, a BB-gun and some ammunition, his mother said. There were no guns in the house.
Bryant was sentenced in juvenile court to probation and community service for possession of ammunition without a firearm owner’s identification card, according to authorities.
