Three Cortez Middle School students accused of a series of local burglaries and attempted break-ins within the last month were expelled for the remainder of the semester by the District Re-1 School Board Tuesday night.

The semester ends Friday. Board member Sue Baacke said the students will be allowed back into school Monday at the beginning of the new semester under a stricter code-of-conduct contract.

With their parents at their sides, each student went into a private meeting with the board.

The specifics of the meetings were not available to the public because the students are juveniles and protected by law.

The three boys were allegedly involved in a total of 15 incidents where several local businesses, a school and one residence suffered damages from attempted and forced-entry burglaries.

Following the meetings, Baacke made the disciplinary recommendations for each student.

"Any deviance (from the contract) will result in automatic expulsion for the remainder of the year," Baacke said.

Board President Steve Hinton addressed each student as he was told the stipulations of re-admittance to school, asking each boy if he understood the board’s recommendations.

"There won’t be any tolerance," Hinton told one of the students. "It’s pretty serious business and you should take it seriously."

Hinton emphasized that the contracts would be very stringent. "It’s going to take some dedication to live with," he said to all three boys.

The board’s actions were based on policies and laws already in place, Hinton said Wednesday morning.

"It’s trying to wake these young people up and let them know that there is accountability and you’ve got to answer for your actions," he said.

Hinton said the alleged actions of the youths would not have been susceptible to school disciplinary actions had school property not been involved.

"We have it in our policy, if there’s any destruction of school property, to a certain dollar amount, these students are vulnerable and susceptible to expulsion," Hinton said.

When making their decisions, the board took into consideration the long-term best interests of the boys, Baacke said.

"It’s making them have to earn their way back into the school and demonstrate to the district , , ,that they’re willing to value their education," Baacke said.

"Although they’ve done something wrong, they’re valuable students to us, too. If you keep them out of school too long, you compromise their ability to get the education they want."

Baacke said although the boys were expelled, they will receive credit for the semester.

"They have to get with their principal and decide how they can get their work done without being in the school building," she said. "Then they can start the new semester fresh, but they have to start it under a conduct code."

CMS Principal Byron Wiehe said the three boys won’t be treated any differently than other kids in a behavioral or disciplinary situation.

"They will be put under a disciplinary contract," Wiehe said. "In that contract, it will specify what they’re allowed to do and what they’re not allowed to do."

He added that the boys’ academic progress will be closely monitored by the school.

"We will do things to make sure they’re spending ample time in class, after class, and in tutoring," Wiehe said. "We will provide interventions that will give them opportunities to become better students."

According to Wiehe, it was difficult for principals and board members to come up with an adequate disciplinary decision.

"You’re still dealing with young kids, that when they get things together, still need to be educated," he said. "So you can’t really throw that away. On the other hand, they’ve done some things that are way up and beyond what we generally deal with here, so trying to find the appropriate consequence is difficult."

Wiehe added that it is impossible for the board members to know for sure if they made the best decision.

"There are probably five different ways you could handle it, and you’re hoping you picked the one that was most appropriate. And we’re not going to know that until it’s all said and done."

The boys have yet to be processed through the judicial system.