Lynn super to decide fate of students

LYNN – Four students indefinitely suspended from school last week made their case for reinstatement Friday before Superintendent Catherine Latham who will make a decision on the appeals by Wednesday.”I am required by statute to have a response by Wednesday. This is a very serious decision,” Latham said.Latham has the choice under state law to overturn or alter the decision of the principal, including recommending an alternate educational program for the student.Latham held separate hearings with each student, the student’s parents and, in at least one hearing, an attorney representing the student. The four boys, ages 12 and 13, all stated reasons why they should be allowed to return to middle school.Latham declined to discuss details of the hearings but said she will be “discussing with a number of people my options.”The youngest boy, who recently turned 12, attends Breed. Another attends Pickering and two attend Marshall. Their principals cited state law last week in indefinitely suspending the four effective Sept. 9, the first day of school.The law allows principals to suspend a student charged with a felony if the principal “determines that the student’s continued presence in school would have a substantial detrimental effect on the general welfare of the school.”The four along with another teen slated to attend St. Mary’s and a 14 year old were charged by police with the severe beating of Guatemalan native Damian Merida as he slept in undergrowth bordering the commuter rail tracks and Robert McManus Field.The beating occurred on July 22 and the teens were arrested and appeared in Juvenile Court during the following week. The boys pleaded not delinquent to charges of armed assault to murder, assault to maim, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and civil rights order violations resulting in injury.Merida was hospitalized with serious head trauma and other extensive injuries for nearly a month in Massachusetts General Hospital before being moved to Tewksbury State Hospital for rehabilitation treatment.The 14 year old remains in state Youth Services custody.