http://www.amarillo.com/stories/030710/new_news6.shtml
A state law that makes it impossible to file criminal charges against students who bring weapons to schools in their vehicles won't change how local administrators protect their campuses.
The issue was highlighted last month when a 17-year-old Tascosa High School student was arrested after two unloaded handguns and a bulletproof vest were found in his vehicle. The 47th District Attorney's Office determined it couldn't file criminal charges because of a state law passed in 1997 that allows anyone to bring a weapon, including guns, onto a school parking lot.
But that doesn't mean students found to have weapons in their vehicle won't be disciplined.
"Our jurisdiction is over students with the education code," said Rod Schroder, superintendent of Amarillo Independent School District. "It's clear and it's explicit. They're not to have weapons on campus. If they do, they're expelled."
Legislators crafted the 1997 law to protect parents who legally carry a weapon when they drop their children off at school.
"I think the law was written to address those situations and not create a problem for a law-abiding citizen that had the right to (carry a weapon)," Schroder said. "I understand what the criminal law is intended to do."
Randall County Criminal District Attorney James Farren said he agrees parents should be able to drop of their children without being prosecuted, but the law doesn't adequately solve the problem.
"I don't think they intended for students to be able to bring firearms to school and leave them in their (vehicle)," he said.
47th District Attorney Randall Sims said he is aware of five cases in the Panhandle since 1997 in which prosecutors were unable to file charges against students who brought weapons to campus.
He said the first episode was in 1997 Clarendon; the second was in 2005 at Palo Duro High School; the third was in 2009 at Amarillo High School; and two were in the same week last month at Tascosa High School.
The education code gives school districts extra protection in handling weapons-related offenses. It sets punishments for student violators and protects administrators' rights to search vehicles on school property.
Schroder said school administrators only need reasonable suspicion to search a student's vehicle. Tips to Student Crime Stoppers are enough for school administrators to generate a search, he said.
"If there is a criminal action, the police would be involved," he said. "If there's just a civil action, then we would handle that."
Student Crime Stoppers Coordinator Dale Powers, an Amarillo Police Department employee, said school liaison officers will continue to search vehicles, because they're acting as an extension of school administrators.
"(We) are the ones that are trained to look for things," Powers said. "(We) can gather things without getting hurt."
Amarillo ISD pays 75 percent of student liaison officers' salaries, Schroder said.
Powers said Student Crime Stoppers will continue to pay for tips that lead to the removal of weapons from school campuses.
Canyon ISD spokeswoman Christy Bertolino said the district's policies concerning weapons on campus are well- defined.
"We're always looking for ways to keep our students safe," she said. "Even though it's not criminally illegal, if it's against our student code of conduct, we'd still have jurisdiction to make sure that weapon is not on campus."
But Farren said he believes the 1997 law might impact the way law enforcement can conduct searches of student vehicles based on tips generated through Crime Stoppers or other methods.
"I would be real careful," he said. "I'd sure want to do some research about what type of liability the school might face. If it is not a violation of the penal code, then my suggestion to the officers would be they're not going to conduct a search unless they believe there is a violation of the penal code. There's a difference in having the power to do something and the right to do it."
