‘Pastry gun’ case involving Maryland student settled

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – An official says the family of a then 7-year-old who was suspended from school from nibbling his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun has reached a settlement with the school department.

A spokesman for Anne Arundel County schools and the boy’s family’s attorney confirmed the settlement Tuesday to local news media, but neither would release any details.

In 2013, school officials said Park Elementary student Josh Welch nibbled the Pop-Tart-like pastry into the shape of a gun and pointed it at another student. The boy was suspended from the Brooklyn Park-based school for two days.

The suspension drew widespread media attention as the boy and his father, B.J. Welch, appeared on CNN and Fox News.

Welch family attorney Robin Ficker says public schools shouldn’t be allowed to suspend a student “unless there’s actual bodily injury or a weapon brought onto campus.”