When 16-year-old Kiera Wilmot was worked on her high school science project mixing housing chemicals in a small water bottle at Bartow High School, it caused the cap to fly off and produce a bit of smoke. No one was injured during the experiment and it was conducted outdoors.
Now, the story is really not about a Kiera’s faulty science project. What was baffling was that the authorities had her arrested and charged for “possession/discharge of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device”.
The school district proceeded to expect Wilmot for handling the “dangerous weapon” also known as A Water Bottle. Because of this insanity, Kiera will now have to complete high school through an expulsion program.
What confuses us more was that friends of the student, including the staff came to Kiera’s defense. The Polk County Schools stands by its decision to expel Kiera and claims that the experiment was a “serious breach of conduct”.
So, where is the reasoning behind this? We’ve heard stories of bullies who don’t even get punished for beating people to death, but you expel a student whose science project goes wrong?
Source: Reason
