Keira Wilmot, the Florida teenager who was accused of igniting a chemical explosion on school grounds, will not face criminal charges after all.
Wilmot was arrested April 22 for two felonies after school administrators reported she combined toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil in a bottle and the resulting gas blew the cap off the plastic bottle. Although witnesses said the experiment triggered only a tiny pop, causing no harm to those around her nor to school property, police led Wilmot away in handcuffs and charged her with “possession/discharge of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device.”
The teen’s arrest sparked an international outcry on social media by people who thought the arrest was unfair. Nearly 200,000 people signed an online petition protesting her arrest.
The Polk County state attorney said on May 15 that the case has been dismissed, but the 16-year-old must complete a diversion program. It is not clear what exactly this “diversion” program is.
Kiera also received overwhelming support from scientists. According to an article published in Scientific American, Kiera was re-creating the Drano Aluminum foil experiment at school, the kind viewers can see on popular TV shows such as “Myth Busters” or “You’ve Been Warned!” The scientists interviewed for this article admitted to “blowing up things at school” at least once. In the opinion of many scientists, high school is the time to nurture curiosity and to foster responsible experimentation, not punish it.
Racism played a role
Racism plays a huge role in how this whole situation was handled. Zero tolerance policies, like the one that forced Kiera Wilmot’s expulsion from Bartow High School, disproportionately affects students of color. The punishment is consistent with the systemic marginalization of minority students in U.S. public schools. Furthermore, Florida has the largest school-to-prison pipeline in the country. According to the Orlando Sentinel, 12,000 students were arrested 13,870 times in Florida public schools in 2012.
While Black students are just 21 percent of Florida youth, they make up 46 percent of all school-related arrests, according to the Sun Sentinel, a Fort Lauderdale newspaper.
Keira should be re-admitted to her high school with full apologies to her and her family. She should also be allowed to make up any work that she has missed.
Hands off our students of color!
Quality education for all, not prison!
