Teen's family fighting expulsion over pellet gun incident

December 13, 2006 (WLS) -- The fate of a boy expelled from Troy Middle School in southwest suburban Plainfield because of an incident with a gun is being debated. His parents say he is being punished when he should be treated as a hero.

The teenager claims he was just trying to do the right thing when he took a pellet gun he and a friend found on school property and turned it over to an assistant principal. School administrators don't see it that way. They expelled the student. Now his mom is begging the school board to overrule that decision.

"You shouldn't treat any child like this," said Audrey Morgan, mother.

Audrey Morgan says her son is the victim of a rush to judgment. Last month, 13-year-old Ryan Morgan says he and a friend heard that another student had stashed a gun in a garbage can in the boy's bathroom at Troy Middle School. They went to look for the pellet gun and found it. Ryan says he put it in his pocket, walked back into the lunchroom and 10 minutes later saw an assistant principal and turned it over to him.

"I was thinking it was safe to do, because you don't know who could have gotten hold of it," said Ryan Morgan, facing expulsion.

School administrators questioned a number of students and learned who had brought the gun to school. That student was criminally charged and expelled from school.

Ryan's parents say their son should be praised not punished.

"This is a child who turned a gun in. Maybe he didn't make the best decision, because we're dealing with a 13 year old, but can you consider that he has no behavior problems?" said Audrey Morgan, mother.

"I'm not accepting what they want to do to my son," said Roy Morgan, father.

Wednesday night, Ryan's family asked school board members to reconsider the expulsion, even as this 13-year-old reconsiders his decision to pick up the pellet gun in the first place.

"If I could do things differently, I'd just forget about the whole matter," Ryan said.

Ryan's parents say they believe a 10 day suspension would be more appropriate for handling a pellet gun. School administrators have not been available for comment.

The school board continued to meet behind closed doors deliberating Ryan's fate late into Wednesday night.

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