Florida student charged and expelled after 'science experiment' goes awry

Kiera Wilmot, 16, charged with felony possession of a weapon as part of 'zero-tolerance policy' after project exploded

The teenager reportedly mixed toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil.
Photograph: Alamy

To Florida teenager Kiera Wilmot, it was a simple experiment in preparation for her school's science fair, mixing common household chemicals in a small plastic bottle to see how they would react.

Witnesses say the bottle popped "like a firecracker", harmlessly blowing off the lid and creating a small amount of smoke.

But to staff at Bartow High School, police officers and an assistant state attorney with a zero-tolerance attitude, her actions were much more serious.

The unsupervised experiment on school grounds ended with Wilmot, 16, led away to a juvenile detention facility in handcuffs, expelled and charged as an adult with felony possession of a weapon and making or discharging a destructive device, with a possible penalty of up to 20 years in jail.

The episode has pitted campaigners for a common-sense approach to school discipline against an unrepentant school district that insists it is just following rules, warning parents to advise their children that there will always be "consequences to actions".

"This is totally insane," Dr Kathleen Nolan, a lecturer in teacher preparation at Princeton University and author of Police in the Hallways: Discipline in an Urban High School told the Guardian.

"This young woman faces expulsion, felony charges and a criminal record because of what appears to be misguided curiosity. These zero tolerance laws have put into place a mindlessness where individuals no longer think through these kind of situations and use their discretion."

- guardian.co.uk