State police were called after an elementary school student in Marlborough said he found a bullet and a bullet casing in the seat of a school bus Tuesday, but school officials said the items actually came from a box of memorabilia belonging to the child's family.
State troopers responded to the Marlborough elementary school just before 9 a.m. Tuesday after a student said he found a spent shell casing and a training round tucked into the bus seat, according to state police.
They checked the bus and the school and did not find anything else.
It was not until later in the evening that it was clear where the bullet and the casing came from.
On Wednesday, the principal and assistant principal wrote a letter to families saying that one of the younger students made a mistake and took two items from a keepsake box containing his great-grandfather’s memorabilia.
The child knew he made a mistake by bringing the items onto the bus and came up with a story about finding them, according to school administrators.
Since the school shares buses with RHAM, administrators from the Marlborough elementary school reached out to that school, as well as DATCO and the Board of Education and Town Hall.
"In today's world you have to take those things seriously and we did,” Supt. Dr. David Sklarz said.
He said he hopes this is a teaching moment for the young student.
“We would do the same thing if this situation happened again. Always assume the worst and hope for the best and this was a case we assumed the worst, did everything and turned out the best it could for a bad situation,” Sklarz said.
