The terms of the expulsion state that the student will be allowed to return to classes in Tonganoxie at the start of the 2005-2006 school year.

In the meantime, an educational alternative suggested by the school district would be for the child to enroll in an online school. Expenses, which would be the parents’ responsibility, would run $900 a quarter, plus the cost of a computer and Internet access.

At a Nov. 29 special Tonganoxie school board meeting, the parents and the child met in executive session with the board members, district supervisor, elementary school principal and assistant principal and the school district’s attorney, Cynthia Kelly. The board members voted to uphold the student’s expulsion.

Although normally, school boards cannot take binding action during executive session, in this case they could. An exception to the Kansas Open Meetings Act allows boards to make decisions in private when the board is acting in a quasi-judiciary function, which in this instance was the case.