By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


The Howell Public Schools Board of Education has expelled two students caught on video assaulting another student earlier in the school year.

A 12-second video on social media recently showed a group of four students approaching a special needs student outside of Howell High School, after school on August 31st. An investigation was performed by Howell City Police, who determined that three students, all under 17, pretended to make friends with the victim who was new to the district. They lured him behind the bathroom area at the Howell Skatepark and two attacked him while the third videotaped it.

The Livingston County Prosecutor’s Office has charged the three students as adults with Assault with Intent to Commit Great Bodily Harm.

At Monday’s meeting of the Howell Board of Education, the Board voted to expel two of the students permanently, although their names were never mentioned and the discussion leading up to the vote was carried out in closed session per policy.

Superintendent Erin MacGregor said this has been an ongoing investigation with administration, and the disciplinary process has played out for all the students involved. He said that they had some students make some poor decisions and, in turn, they brought those students forward to be reviewed by the board discipline committee, and those recommendations were what were before the Board, Monday.

The Board voted 6-0 in favor of expulsion, with Marcus Wilcox abstaining. Wilcox said he is an attorney and the two students have contacted him about possible representation.

The expelled students could potentially apply for and be accepted into the Livingston Educational Service Agency’s W-A-Y Program, which is an alternative school. Regardless of their potential enrollment in the program, they will not be permitted on HPS property for any reason for the duration of their expulsions.