Dearborn Heights Honor Student Suspended for Bringing Knife to School

An honor student from Dearborn Heights won’t be expelled for bringing a pocket knife to school, but has been suspended for the rest of the school year.

Atiya Haynes, 17, told WWJ/CBS Detroit that she had forgotten the 3.25-inch knife, which her grandfather had given her for protection in her Detroit neighborhood, was in her purse. Police discovered it after searching Haynes and other Annapolis High School students who were in a girls’ restroom when school officials received reports of someone smoking pot there.

Haynes wasn’t using marijuana, but the discovery of the knife violated the school’s zero-tolerance policy for bringing weapons to school.

“I was really taken aback; like a mix of shock, because I’d forgotten that it was in there,” Haynes said. “Honestly, it just left my mind; like about two days after he’d given it to me, it kinda left my mind.”

The Dearborn Heights District 7 school board decided after two hours of deliberation Monday to suspend rather than expel Haynes, which means the college-bound student who wants to be a broadcast journalist can enroll in online classes and graduate with the rest of her class in 2015, WJBK, Channel 2 reports. But she can’t participate in sports and other extra-curricular activities.

School officials expelled Haynes after the September discovery of the knife, but with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union-Michigan, she was allowed to appeal the decision.

The less severe punishment, which the six-member board unanimously backed, was still a blow.

“I’m disgusted,” Haynes said. “I can’t believe that ... no empathy. Put your child in this situation. Every time you forget your keys to your house, think of me. Think of this honest mistake. I’m a human being. I’m 17 years old. It’s disgusting that you can sleep at night knowing that you can potentially ruin somebody’s life.”

District Superintendent Tim Thieken said “every discipline issue that comes to us as a school board is a blow to a student.”

He said Haynes presented a compelling case, “but at the same time, as a school board, we are upheld by the state of Michigan to uphold the laws of the state of Michigan.”

Haynes, the daughter of immigrant parents, said the board’s action won’t sidetrack her college career.

“…To have the opportunities that I’ve been afforded is like amazing for us,” she said. “And for it just to be, you know, cut so short so soon, it would be devastating, traumatic for our family.”

The family is pursuing other options, including private school.

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Screenshot: WJBK video