On January 9, 2003, Appellant obtained permission from his teacher to bring a pickup into the shop area to work on it. The teacher noticed what appeared to be a stock of a rifle sticking out of a gun case. The teacher notified the principal and law enforcement was called pursuant to school policy. The partially cased shotgun was confiscated. Appellant indicated that he was not aware that the gun was in the truck. His father testified at the school board's expulsion hearing that the shotgun was his and he forgot to remove it after hunting. The gun was not loaded. Appellant was expelled on January 13, 2003, after the local board followed the superintendent's recommendation that Appellant be expelled.

Appellant does not argue that the local board exceeded its authority in expelling him. The argument urged by Appellant is that the local policy and the statute upon which it is based must be interpreted to require some degree of knowledge by Cody that he had brought a weapon to school before he could be expelled. Appellee countered that the plain language of the Iowa statute under 280.21B compelled an expulsion regardless of whether Cody was aware that he was in possession of the shotgun.

Federal statute does not require States to make knowledge a required element regarding a student's culpability. Although this Board does not always agree with the substantive decisions that local boards make regarding expulsions, if the local board complied substantially with procedural due process requirements. Some due process violations may be cause for reversal if no available remedy is sufficient to correct the deficiency. The State Board of Education concluded that the violation of not preparing a wirtten decision outlining the facts upon which the expulsion decision was based and the conclusions reached by the local board can be adequately cured in this case by ordering the local board to do "that which was not done before." Cody was not prejudiced by the error.

Whether or not the local board believed Cody's testimony that he had no knowledge of the shotgun's presence does not affect the authority of the local board to expel him.

That the decision of the Board of the Directors of the Central Decatur Community School District, made on January 13, 2003, be affirmed as to the decision to expel Cody Allen McCleary.