Students were suspended or expelled from Hawaii public schools in 12 incidents involving an explosive device, air gun or handgun during 1998-99, a school year in which the nation focused on fatal shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado and other mainland schools.
The numbers are contained in a mandatory annual report from the state Department of Education to the Legislature.
The Gun-Free Schools Act Annual Report is just one of several reports -- topics including implementation of mental health services, music curriculum, physical fitness and educational assessment and accountability -- that the Board of Education approved last night.
Superintendent Paul LeMahieu told board members the majority of the reports being sent to the Legislature cover what he expects to be the hottest education topics this coming session -- accountability, money and school safety.
The department's definition of a firearm includes air guns, which can mean BB guns or pistols, pellet guns and paint guns.
The report lists 23 separate incidents in five school districts.
The Honolulu District reported one incident at Kaiser High School in which a pellet gun was found in a hedge by a custodian Dec. 10.
The Central Oahu School District included separate incidents at Moanalua High School, Mililani High School, Mililani Mauka Elementary and Moanalua Middle School.
In each of the incidents, the most severe discipline was either a suspension or expulsion. All but one of the incidents involved possession or use of an air gun. The remaining incident involved a student arrested and suspended for trying to light a firecracker powder bomb off-campus at Mililani Waena playground.
All but one of the incidents in Leeward Oahu School District occurred at Campbell High School, where a special education student with a loaded gun was holed up on campus on Sept. 21. He was arrested and suspended but was allowed to return to school later that year.
Campbell High School also saw several incidents this past January during which an explosive device was set off on campus with no perpetrator caught.
The only other school reporting an incident in Leeward Oahu was Waianae High School, where a pipe bomb was set off in the boys' bathroom Jan. 14. The student involved was dismissed from school.
The Windward Oahu district reported a student finding a pipe bomb while cleaning an agricultural area. A police report was filed.
The Big Island school district saw two BB gun incidents, one bomb explosion and one possible bomb all occurring at Waiakea High School in Hilo. In May, a student shot another student in the cafeteria with a BB gun. The perpetrator was dismissed from school for 184 days.
