I have to say, this wasn't a lack of judgment or impulsive behavior. It was a planned science experiment gone wrong.

So, the next time a chemist does something wrong and a chemistry experiment results in a lot of smoke, we should arrest them, too?

Stupidity on steroids.

Amy, I signed the petition and I noticed this update: "UPDATE: The charges have been dropped against Kiera but she will have to complete a 'diversion program' outlined by the state's Department of Justice. Kiera also had to serve a ten day suspension and is now attending a new high school."

If there's a petition to fire that principal and make sure it never is allowed within ten miles of a child from now until the end of time, I'd sign that, too.

The science experiment and the school's zero-tolerance attitude is laughable. The so-called model student's poor grasp of grammar is sad. If that's the education she was getting, she's probably better off in another school.

The fact that the school has a "dean of discipline" tells me every thing I need to know.

That morning I was taking the experiment to be approved by my teacher. My friends and I were outside, and they wanted to see how it worked. Eventually they convinced me to try it. It did not react the way I expected it to. The lid popped off and smoke came out. If I could go back in time, I definitely wouldn't have done it.

Famous last words, those. The poor dumb kid.

They didn't read me any rights. They arrested me after sitting in the office for a couple minutes. They handcuffed me. It cut my wrist, and really hurt sitting on my hands behind my back.

Those bastards. Was there any thought involved at all? Any at all? This related article from the same web site goes into the circumstances a little further, explaining that the decision to charge came from Assistant State Attorney Tammy Glotfelty, who had some discretion in her decision-making. Of course, discretion and judgment only work if people actually use them. In the fourth paragraph of the article linked above is another link to the Miami New Times Riptide blog, explaining the school administration's not-terribly-compelling argument.

The "lack of judgment"/impulsivity was in doing it outside for her friends without permission.

Ok, I will give the kid the total benefit of ignorance and will go by that she was duped by her friends. This things are known as bottle bombs and are extremely dangerous. There are several clips on youtube showing these going awry. Keep in mind that in the following clip, the kid had Drano sprayed in his eyes at a pretty high velocity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQNVZrnZ3LI

The bigger the bottle, the bigger the bomb and they have probably been used by more than one teenager to blow up a mailboxes or other stuff.

I guess you could say that the kid was unlucky in in more ways than just being duped by her friends into making this device. Again, being very liberal with the benefit of the doubt, she was again fooled into activating the thing. Most certainly, in my opinion, if she would have actually made it to class with such a thing and the chem teacher saw it, he would have vetoed her project then and there for it's inherent dangerousness.

As far as the heavy handedness of her arrest, I am all for NOT criminalizing kids when they do stupid stuff, although this is dangerously close to beyond stupid. Again, given her plea of total ignorance, she had to figure out how to make this somehow, and usually kids turn to the internet and youtube and such to figure it out. In doing so, one would quickly find out that this is not a volcano, but what is what is very commonly referred to as a bottle bomb.

Good news - not only did the school drop charges, but NASA good guy Homer Hickam (of 'October Sky' fame) bought her a scholarship to space camp.

I love a happy ending.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/cleared-charges-honor-student-space-camp/story?id=19236561

DS has some very good points. Let me say first that involving the police was wrong. However, this is not some inspired, budding chemist. This girl is dumb. Just dumb. Her after-the-fact explanation does not pass the sniff test.

I am willing to bet that she has no idea what the actual chemical reaction is. Either: she was duped by "friends" and too stupid to actually look up what this reaction could do. Or: she saw a YouTube video, knew damn well what could happen and didn't take it seriously. There is no third possibility.

They didn't read me any rights

They don't have to.

The only thing reading you a Miranda warning does is let them use statements you make, against you in court.

There wasn't any need to read any rights there, since if they'd been stupid enough to prosecute, they wouldn't need any for a conviction.

It was a stupid overreaction from the first, and she never should have been arrested, let alone charged, but ... that comment just underscores how we need Civics classes back in the schools, if we're going to have mandatory schooling - and how the endless parade of Crime Media is giving people completely false ideas about how arrests work and the law.

(I am also with Random Guy's assessment; this wasn't Aspiring Chemistry. This was either being suckered or just wanting to make a harmless kaboom.)

My husband said he once made napalm in his friend's garage. Caused a fair bit of damage, too. In another explosive experiment, he and some friends accidentally wrecked the door of a car owned by the father of one of the kids. Today he'd probably be in jail, but at the time it was just their overly ambitious way of learning about science and limits. (He spent so much time in the ER one year with minor injuries that the social worker sent him and his father to separate rooms to try and figure out whether he was being abused.) Now he's an engineer, and he focuses on software, so there are fewer explosions in his life.

All the same, I'm glad our new house will have a workshop/garage that isn't attached to the rest of the house.

Even if this was entirely a lapse in judgment on the girl's part and had nothing to do with an interest in chemistry, the police aren't the answer. We don't need to answer every childhood lapse in judgment with jail time.

"I maybe should have gotten 10 days suspension or a work detail where on Saturday you wake up early and pick up trash around the school."

This is the saddest statement in the whole article for me. She actually believes she should have been penalized when she did absolutely nothing wrong. Bomb, MY ASS!

I had a teacher in grade 10 science, working with Nitrogen (I think). I forget to this day what he did, but something went wrong and we had to evacuate the classroom, as a precaution they said. LOTSA smoke, nothing more.

I guess my science teacher shoulda served 10-20,for making a bomb on school property and endangering minors?

Why must ABC tell us that her mom is "single mother"? Am I supposed to get teary-eyed? I'm also not really buying the honor student stuff, but whatever.

"Their mother, Marie, will be joining the girls in Huntsville, taking the time to relax and reflect while her daughters explore the many facets of the program. "

Relax and reflect? Am I missing something here?

I'd be in Gitmo if the law was what it is today when I was a kid. No casualties, and no malicious property damage, but a few close calls. One involved a hollow tree and the fire department. Now that's a simulated volcano...

You know why the charges were dropped?

Because her 5th amendment rights were violated, any 1st year law student could have gotten that thrown out.

You know why shes in a diversion program?
Because she and her parents are to stupid to realise that nothing could have come of this criminal and allowed themselves to be bullied into the SA's face saving manuver.

The "dean" cops, and SA should be lined up against a wall and shot

My sympathy for her has dropped dramatically since reading her remarks.

And the school system.

He said we couldn't do a baking soda and vinegar volcano because that was at the fifth grade level. I especially like chemistry, and the reacting.

And the reacting?

I begin to see some holes here. This, this is an "honors student?"

The "reacting?"

... Someone suggested to me to combine aluminum foil and toilet bowl cleaner in a water bottle to make a volcano.

Maybe somebody needs to go back to 5th grade.

, but it wasn't like people were hurt and the school was in shatters.

In shatters?

Honors. Student?

Holy bejeeesus.