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School Board Erases Suspension of Child with “Hello Kitty” Gun

MOUNT CARMEL — The Mount Carmel Area School District has wiped the slate clean for a kindergarten student who got suspended for threatening to shoot anoth...

MOUNT CARMEL -- The Mount Carmel Area School District has wiped the slate clean for a kindergarten student who got suspended for threatening to shoot another student with a "Hello Kitty" bubble gun.

Kelly Guarna is a former Mount Carmel Police Officer, and a single mother of a five-year-old girl at the center of a story she calls "unreal."

Three weeks ago, the Principal of Mount Carmel Area Elementary School suspended Kelly`s daughter for several days.

The reason: The principal claimed the kindergartener made, "terror threats" when she reportedly said she would shoot a friend and herself with a plastic "Hello Kitty" bubble gun.

Guarna`s lawyers called the suspension outrageous and wanted it removed from the child's educational record.

At a closed-door meeting Wednesday afternoon, they succeeded

"After meeting with them (school administrators), I`m, satisfied with the outcome.  They agreed to everything I was looking to get," said Kelly Guarna.

The School Board's attorney will not say if any action would be taken against the school principal for suspending a girl who is little more than three feet tall, weighs 41 pounds, and threatened to shoot herself and a friend with a plastic gun that shoots bubbles.

Guarna`s lawyer confirms the agreement means there will be no lawsuit against the Mount Carmel Area School District.

The girl`s mother hopes this case is closed.

Newswatch 16 asked her what what would be the first thing she'd tell her daughter when she got home.

"Same thing that I`ve been telling her. I love her, and every day I tell her she`s a good girl and she`s done nothing wrong and this proves it," said Guarna.

Guarna said she owes a debt of thanks to the thousands of people worldwide who e-mailed the school administration.

Her daughter will go back to school on Thursday with her suspension wiped from her record.

It's important to Kelly Guarna, who worries the suspension for "terror threats" might cost the child future opportunities if it stayed on her record.

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