The Dearborn Heights District 7 Board of Education chose a less severe punishment for the honor student who was initially expelled after a pocketknife was found in her purse at a football game.
On Monday, after two hours of deliberation, the board voted 6-0 to allow Atiya Haynes to take online classes. She then will be able to graduate with her class in 2015.
The decision still came as a blow to college-bound Haynes, who participated in numerous extracurricular activities including sports.
School officials discovered the knife as she was exiting a bathroom at the game when they searched her purse.
Haynes says the pocketknife was a gift from her grandfather who gave it to her for protection because her summer job required her to ride her bike from southwest Detroit to Dearborn.
She reluctantly accepted it and says she forgot it was in her purse.
The school board felt there was no intent to support the zero tolerance statute, but felt the student needed to be punished and violated school policy for bringing the weapon.
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