LORAIN — A sixth-grade honor student from Lowell Elementary has been suspended for taking a plastic souvenir gun on a week-long field trip to a Brecksville nature center, school officials said.

Lorain Schools Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson said officials are investigating whether the boy was threatening fellow students from the Lorain and Elyria Gifted and Talented Education programs, who also were on the trip.

Another sixth-grader from the field trip also was suspended because he had a box cutter with him, Atkinson said. When he found out the other student had gotten in trouble for having a toy gun, the second boy told a teacher he had the knife.

The boy had used the box cutter to whittle arrowheads while staying with his grandparents and had forgotten he had it with him, he told the teacher.

His punishment will probably be less severe because of his honesty, Atkinson said.

“We want to make sure kids know it’s OK to come forward before something gets out of hand,” she said. “I certainly appreciate this little fella going to an adult when he realized (the box cutter) was inappropriate.”

Both students were sent home early from the trip, she said.

Middle school principals will be asked to talk with students in the coming week about the district’s policies about toy guns and knives, she said.

Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.

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