What Would You Have Expected to Be Done?

I would expect the principal to report the incident to the police for them to investigate, and let them handle it from there.

My brother was actually arrested for doing something like this in high school. It is illegal. Get the cops involved.

I would expect it to be taken care of... BY then, because I would have called the Cops that night it happened.

The thing is, one of the perpetrators, was a high school drop out. Therefore, he is NOT a part of that school. Therefore, he CANNOT be put in detention or suspended, because he is a drop out. And this guy was with a kid who was younger than him.
So, the school principal has an incident that happened on school grounds, after school hours. It was in the evening. And one of the perpetrators is not a student. She is not a Cop. She is a principal who, probably has to consult someone else, about what to do. Perhaps even the District office etc. and their "rule" books. And the media- Whoa, they don't want that kind of attention or that kind of "trouble", would they? So why would they call the cops? A school does not want bad press.

Now, your son was shot at and hurt. And this is not a silly toy.
If that happened to my kid, I would be pissed.
And, I would have taken a photo of the injury, documented the incident, and called the Cops. Right away.
This is not a school matter.
It only happened to happen, on school grounds.

The thing is: Anyone.... can drive or walk onto school grounds... as you saw. Even after school hours.
But J. because a person can do that and they may go onto school grounds... it does not always... make it a "school" matter. Sometimes, it is a Police matter. So... you have to discern, that.
Your son got assaulted.
It was not done as a joke right?
And it was not funny, right?
And it was not done in a friendly way, right?
And he got hurt, right?
The perpetrators drove by, in a CAR, and took a shot at your son.
This is not bullying. This is a person, taking a shot at your son with a thing that caused him injury. And, they did it intentionally. And, for all you know, they could be doing this to others. Or at other places/schools/malls, etc. too.

**Next: You let your son handle it. Fine.
BUT... YOU are the parent. IF THIS IS NOT being handled, or if it is not being handled by now, or if it is not being handled at all... then, you and/or your Husband need to step in and handle it. To the school. March on over there.

Or, if you think that what happened to your son... is no big deal. Then, don't do anything and let it be swept under the rug and ignored. Then your son will "learn"... that his parents don't do anything about matters or problems.... that are important. And that, him getting shot at, was no big deal. Even if he got hurt and possibly could have lost his eye.

The point is: YOU have to, surmise, if this is a big deal to you or not, or that your son is in danger or was in danger. You are the parent. So then, you pursue the case with the Principal until you are satisfied it was taken care of... or you call the Cops and take action. A child, needs to know and learn ... that his/her own parents, know how to Step Up and take care of wrong doing.

I understand a 16 year old wanting to handle things for themselves, but I would have contacted law enforcement. Yes, it happened on school grounds, but it wasn't a student of the school who did this.

Hopefully the school immediately contacted law enforcement and reported the incident and are closely watching to make sure nothing like this happens again. Hopefully law enforcement was able to find the kid who did this.

Airsoft guns aren't toys. They are dangerous.

J. my opinion.

I would have expected the police to be called, charges to be filed and the parents of the boy who assulted your son to pay for any medical bills.

Hopefully, the principal took immediate action, notified the police, they leaped into action, studied all evidence, talked to your son, identified the offenders and charges were pressed.
I was and am of the opinion that this isn't "bullying" or other "school issue" only. I would have called the police immediately were it my kid.
At the least, the kid with the gun, if a student, would be expelled, in addition to the charges by police.
I understand your son wanted to handle it himself.
Curious to see what was done.
I am hoping against all hopes that your answer is NOT : still nothing. Hopefully, J. because your son "handled it himself" if NO action so far--you need to get involved.

If the kid was a drop-out, then the school has no way to implement any consequences. So, if you want action, you'd have to go to the police.

So, to answer your question, I would not expect any action by the school because they have no authority over a kid who is not in school.

Let M. get out my crystal ball...

I think you may be following the letter of "Letting my son handle it" - but you certainly missed the spirit of it.

Letting someone else take care of things means that you need to not only step back from the situation, you really should try to let it go.

Or maybe your question could be rephrased to "should I let the principal handle it on his/her own, or should I get involved?"

I would have gone to the police and let them interact with the school.

Good for your son for stepping up to handle it himself. But, with that being said, he is still the child and if nothing else the principal needs to contact you to let you know what is being done. Since this student is a drop out, I dont know that there is a whole lot the school can do as far as punishment is concerned because the kid is no longer enrolled. They can keep him from being allowed on school property, and should, but in all actuality this truly sounds like a matter for the police. I know with small towns, because I live in one myself, they dont always take matters like this as seriously as they should but I still feel it should be reported. If nothing else, it will hopefully let this idiot know that you are going to fight with brains rather than brawn and maybe won't mess with your son anymore. Good luck and I hope it all works out well in the end for your family.

I live in a small town. In situations such as this, usually the principal calls in the kids for a meeting. Sometimes the police sit in on the meeting.

Even though this was a drop-out student, the parents/kid would have been contacted.

We are very fortunate that our town tries very hard to J. redirect behavior, rather than leaving a mark on the kid's record. :)

Zero tolerance schools tend to overreact but since you posted this I am assuming they under reacted?

What should have been done is they should have explained the danger to him, make him understand that an inch lower your son could have lost an eye. The fact is it was stupid but I see no indication of malice, J. poor judgement. Education, not punishment, is my solution to poor judgement but then I am strange like that. So far as speed goes it should have been done that day.

It depends on whether your son can identify the kid. If so, easy answer, the principal takes it from there, issues the consequences and it's all done with (you do not get to know the consequence, unfortunately, but the principal or whoever the disciplinarian is there should follow up to let you know he handled it).

If your son cannot identify the kid we have a trickier situation. There either IS a camera (review the tape and hadle it from there, hopefully identify the kid and see above) or there isn't (sorry son there is nothing we can do if we don't have any leads on who did this. Keep your ears to the ground and come back in if you have any suspicions of who to go after).

I would expect the action to be taken that same day, or at the latest by 4 pm Friday- before the weekend.

I'm answering this question from a mom standpoint and the standpoint of someone who works in JrHigh/high school (they share one campus where I work).

Keep in mind, not much can be done if they can't identify the kid... I wouldn't expect the school to go on a "witch hunt".

So what happened? Can't wait to know, I read your original question and remember it well.

Let your son handle it but keep a precise recordof your own of what happened. I would also encourage him to correspond via email so he can have a paper trail should he need one and copy you on everything.

In our school district, according to the written policies, possession of "projectiles designed to be used in a weapon or ohter material desinged to cause pain or injury" would lead to a 5-day suspension and all school personnel being notified that the perpetrator had committed a violent behavior and that would go on his school record. Actual use of the projectile would have led to an immediate expulsion.

I would expect the kid to be expelled for having a weapon on school property. In my husband's small town, it would have only happened if the kid's parents were poor.

if the kids a drop out the only thing she can do is see if she can find the incident on the security cameras and turn the footage over to your local police officers.. hopefully she knows who the kid is and what his name is ... if she cant find the incident on camera i dont think there is really much she can do ecvept let the athorities know whats going on so they have a record of this happeneing in case it happens again or to someone else

Well, since the boy is a drop out and the school can't expel him or put him in detention, the only option they would have, especially if they want to keep their zero tolerance policy on weapons taking seriously, I would think they would call the police and give them the video, the name of the kid driving the pickup and let the police go talk with him. I live in a small town of 1,100 and I know our school would have reported it. My neice was on school property one year when some kids drove by and trying to scare the girls, they shot at the wall close to them with paintballs. One hit my niece in the eye and it caused some serious damage. She had to lay on the couch and not move her head for days, she couldn't read or watch TV and it could have turned fatal. It was something about swelling into the brain or something like that. These boys wouldn't have hurt her for anything on purpose but as it was the police was called and it was up to my brother if they wanted to press charges or not. They chose not to because they know the boys learned a valuable lesson and wasn't maliscious even though it was a stupid act. So yes, the school should follow through with the no tolerence policy and leave it up to you if you want to press charges on hitting your son.

Yay for having such a grown-up son who wants to handle a touchy situation without his parents!

I would advise your son that an adult in this situation would do everything in his/her power to document the incident, which is TAKE A PHOTO of the injury/bruise, report what happened in writing, file a police report, and talk to the principal.

Sounds like he did most of those things.

The police may ask your son if he wants to press charges. And he can if he wants to. However, I sure hope that the community can come together around this drop-out. It would be not good to have a misdemeanor on his record.

But always document possible criminal activity. It may come in handy later.
Even in a small town.

Um, no! You should have called the police as soon as your son got home and told you what happened!! What was an air soft gun today might be a 9 mil tomorrow!