Lodi Middle School Student Elizabeth Nesbitt, 13, was suspended two-and-a-half days for accidentally pointing her bow and arrow at a teacher gym class. Also pictured is Nesbitt's mother, Jennifer. Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Archery accident

Lodi girl suspended for pointing bow and arrow toward teacher; mother wants 'blemish' off daughter's school record

A Lodi Middle student with a 4.0 grade-point average and plans for college has been suspended for pointing a loaded bow and arrow toward her physical education teacher during archery class.

Elizabeth Nesbitt, 13, has already served her two-and-half-day suspension, but her mother wants it off her school record, especially because, she said both the principal and teacher have told her they believe the incident was an accident.

"It's unreasonable for suspending her for something they feel was totally unintentional," Jennifer Nesbitt said Thursday after an unsuccessful meeting with Lodi Unified Associate Superintendent Odie Douglas.

"We are appalled and thoroughly disappointed in the teacher, principal and the higher-ups," she said. "I would have understood even failing her in archery, but this punishment affects her in her other six classes as well."

Last week, Elizabeth was among a group of students who lined up to practice shooting at targets with their bows and arrows. When hers was unusually tight, she turned to her teacher to ask for help in pulling it back and inadvertently pointed it at him, Nesbitt said.

Since the arrow was already pulled back slightly, teacher Ron Fisher was concerned he would be shot, according to Nesbitt, who met with the teacher and principal the day after the incident.

But Elizabeth maintains she was pointing it toward the ground, not Fisher.

"I could barely pull back, like barely an inch," she said Thursday. "He said if I let it go he would have been punctured. If I would have let it go, it would have hit the ground."

Neither Fisher nor Lodi Middle Principal Marco Sanchez could be reached for comment.

At the time, Elizabeth said her teacher yelled her name, told her to put the bow and arrow on the floor and go straight to the office. She was to be suspended for five days, possibly even expelled for brandishing what is considered a deadly weapon.

"I was asking for help, not for (Fisher) to suspend me," Elizabeth said.

Nesbitt, who owns City Girl in Downtown Lodi, doesn't argue with the facts. She's fighting to get the suspension removed from her daughter's record. "The time is already lost," Nesbitt said of the suspension her daughter served last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. "I don't want this on her record. If it comes down to two students for a scholarship or to get into college, and she has this blemish ... "

The suspension form, provided to the News-Sentinel by Nesbitt, reads that: "Elizabeth pointed a loaded bow and arrow at Mr. Fisher during P.E. Two other students were also in the line of fire and were shaken up. Elizabeth was aware of the rules, however, displayed a lapse in judgment that could have resulted in serious injury or death. The act was unintentional according to the student."

The form is signed by Elizabeth Nesbitt and the school principal.

Nesbitt said the suspension has already threatened Elizabeth's membership in a scholarship club.

Elizabeth said she didn't know how she'd be treated when she returned to school Monday. "I feel like people thought of me as a goodie-two-shoes and then I get suspended."

She thinks a referral sent home to her parents for their signature would have been a fairer punishment.

Nesbitt and her husband John, a San Joaquin County Sheriff's deputy, decided not to punish their daughter because they believe it was an accident. There is no evidence the student was goofing off or not paying attention.

"She's a good kid. She never gets into trouble. She's active in her church," Nesbitt said, listing the reasons she feels the suspension was unfair.

Principal Sanchez reduced the original recommendation to just two-and-a-half days of suspension and told the Nesbitts that Elizabeth could have been expelled since she technically pointed a deadly weapon at someone. (Nesbitt disagrees, since the school put the so-called weapon in her child's hands.)

Associate Superintendent Douglas said he could not comment on any specific instance of student discipline.

He said his decision is the last step of suspension appeal.

"But any parent can go before the board — that's what open session is," he said.

Douglas said the only way a suspension can be removed from someone's record is if it can be proved that the incident did not take place as reported.

He would not comment if there have been any other incidents with Lodi Middle School's archery program, but did say the district has had to deal with other cases of students with dangerous items.

Contact reporter Jennifer Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com.