WILLMAR -- The Willmar School Board expelled a male Senior High student for weapons possession.
The board held a special meeting Thursday to consider the expulsion, which will last for one calendar year, beginning today.
It is the second expulsion in a week and the third this month. Another male Senior High student was expelled at the School Board meeting on Monday and a female student was expelled for possession of weapons and drug paraphernalia.
The names and ages of the students are not revealed at School Board meetings. The board legally closes meetings to discuss student discipline and then votes on the expulsion resolution in an open board meeting.
Superintendent Kathy Leedom said the two expulsions this week were the result of the same incident at the school. The second was taken up at the special meeting because the process on it wasn't complete yet, she said.
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The recent expulsions do not seem to be part of a pattern of discipline problems at the school this year, Leedom said.
"We take it very seriously, and that's why we have a safe environment," she said.
The number of expulsions was significantly higher in the mid-1990s, when the district first adopted its current discipline policy, Leedom said, and it's dropped since then.
In all disciplinary situations, "we're trying to work with children and young people to understand their behavior and the choices they make," she said.
Administrators look for "teachable moments" to talk with students about their behavior and its consequences, she said.
Willmar is different from many districts, because it expels students from a specific building rather than from all district programs. "We serve the student in another setting if it's possible," Leedom said.
