South student’s suspension expunged

BY KARINA KOVAC

New York State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa ordered the Great Neck School District to expunge a Great Neck South High School student’s disciplinary record in a sharply critical ruling released last week.

Rosa called the suspension of the student, 16, in connection with a security breach last December “shocking to the conscience.”

“Nowhere does it suggest that students are responsible for the security of school buildings—and nor should they be,” Rosa said.

The student had been deemed responsible for aiding armed intruders who entered the school in December and faced suspension for the rest of the school year.

Superintendent Kenneth Bossert said in a statement to Blank Slate Media that he had received Rosa’s decision, but could not comment “out of respect for our students’ rights and privacy (guided by FERPA).”

He said he would comply with the “Commissioner’s directive.”

Bossert also said “there have been no administrative changes based on this incident. I remain committed to investigating the matter in its entirety and reviewing with all parties involved. Appropriate outreach has been made to review the matter.”

He added that “any and all security/procedural enhancements that are deemed appropriate have already been implemented or will be for the coming school year.”

The suspended student, whose identity was not released, was in the lunchroom when he spotted two of the nine intruders, all teens from Queens. The student assumed the intruders attended Great Neck South, the hearing decision said.

Then, “according to the student, the non-students indicated that they had weapons and would use them against the student if he told anyone,” the ruling reads. “The student further testified that some of the non-students showed him a video of them assaulting someone. At approximately 1:00 p.m., at the request of the non-students, the student. The two intruders planned to visit the girlfriend of one of the students and “confront” anoth- er student, according to the decision.

After the school day ended, the intruders were discovered by the high school administration and surveillance footage showed the student escorting one of the intruders to the locker room.

Two underage individuals faced charges of felony burglary as well as criminal possession of a weapon.

One of them was charged due to the possession of a butterfly knife, while the other faced charges for being in possession of a stun gun. When searched, one had a TASER and pepper spray while a second had a TASER and a butterfly knife.

The student had a meeting with

Continued on Page 35