Carman-Ainsworth subcommittee votes to expel two students after closed hearing for one family

Acting President Gary Counsins presided over the Carman-Ainsworth Community Schools Student Discipline Subcommittee on Oct. 28, 2025, where the panel voted unanimously to expel two students for violations of the district Student Code of Conduct.

Superintendent Ryan, who the subcommittee identified as the district’s designated Student Discipline Hearing Officer, opened the meeting and explained that the session was an open-session, due-process opportunity for students referred by letter under the Oct. 28 memorandum. He asked the family of Student B whether they preferred an open or closed hearing; the family requested a closed hearing, and the subcommittee voted to move into closed session to consider Student B’s case.

The panel convened a closed session at 5:37 p.m. and reconvened open session at 5:52 p.m. After deliberation, the subcommittee adopted a motion by Acting President Gary Counsins, supported by Katina Wilborn, to expel Student B as described in the subcommittee’s confidential memorandum dated Oct. 28, 2025. The motion also prohibits Student B from participating in or attending any school-district extracurricular activities. The roll-call vote was recorded as Cousins, Gleason-Gidcumb and Wilborn voting aye, with no nays.

Following a brief recess, the subcommittee addressed the administration’s recommendation for Student A. Assistant Principal Jennifer Thornton of Carman-Ainsworth High School summarized the events concerning Student A and noted that the student’s family was not present. The subcommittee then adopted a motion by Acting President Gary Counsins, supported by Mary Margaret Gleason-Gidcumb, to expel Student A for violations of the Student Code of Conduct and to prohibit participation in district extracurricular activities; that motion also passed unanimously on a roll-call vote.

The transcript and the open-session minutes reference confidential subcommittee memoranda dated Oct. 28, 2025, for both cases; the memoranda contain the specific infractions and supporting documentation but those details were not read into the public record during the open session. The open-session minutes do not list the specific offenses; therefore, the precise allegations and supporting evidence remain in the confidential records and are not specified in this report.

The subcommittee voted earlier in the meeting to reorder the agenda so Student B would be considered before Student A, as requested by Superintendent Ryan. That procedural motion, moved by Gary Counsins and supported by Mary Margaret Gleason-Gidcumb, passed on a unanimous roll-call vote.

The subcommittee scheduled its next Student Discipline meeting for Nov. 25, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. Acting President Counsins adjourned the meeting at 6:08 p.m.