By Rebecca Gaunt

Cobb County Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard II reversed the expulsion of a Cobb County eighth grader who used a district-issued computer to warn his friend about a shooting threat in September 2024.

The Cobb County school board upheld the decision to expel, a ruling that was upheld again upon appeal to the state board of education.

The student, referred to as G.D., was expelled for causing a school disruption, however, the language of the rule states that it applies to intentional acts. Upon reviewing the evidence considered by the school board, Leonard found no evidence that G.D. intended to cause a disruption and that the board had misconstrued the language of the rule. 

Read more: Cobb eighth grader expelled for warning friend of shooting threat – Cobb Courier

G.D., who was then an eighth grader receiving special education services at Campbell Middle School, used Google Chat to send a warning message to his friend at another school. According to court documents, he said a student in his first-period class showed him a video that contained a threat to shoot up the schools at lunchtime. The threat was against Campbell Middle, the friend’s school, and G.D.’s sister’s school.

Screenshots of his chat circulated online, causing panic in the community.

The incident occurred two days after the Sep. 4, 2024, shooting at Appalachee High School in Winder, in which two students and two teachers were killed, and nine others were injured. Georgia schools were overwhelmed with false threats in the days immediately following the shooting.

A statement from the school resource officer who handled the matter said, “[G.D] was very forthcoming and volunteered to show me the conversation with [redacted] from the beginning. As I read the chat, I found there was no threat to the school district and that the conversation, although inappropriate for school, was not illegal.”

Read the judge’s order by following this link