Jack Stollsteimer, the state's safe-schools advocate, alleged in a four-page memo that the district had routinely violated the federal Gun-Free Schools Act, which mandates a year's expulsion for students caught with firearms on school property. State law extends the policy to apply to all weapons.

A complaint has been filed with the U.S. Attorney's Office, and federal officials have been gathering information on the district's expulsion policy in response, but it is not clear whether those inquiries will lead to a formal investigation. The district could lose millions in federal aid if it is found to have violated the federal act, Stollsteimer said.

With the district considering a new violence policy, district officials took sharp exception to Stollsteimer's conclusions, saying that the chief executive officer had discretion when it comes to expelling students and, instead of expulsion, typically responded by immediately transferring students caught with weapons to special disciplinary schools.

"The effect of 'expulsion' is being exercised every day," Fred Farlino, the district's interim chief operating officer, said, referring to students sent to disciplinary schools.

He said the district's School Safety Advisory Committee - of which he is a member - was considering recommending to the School Reform Commission that a more formal expulsion process be started again to address concerns about compliance with the law.

Stollsteimer, a former assistant U.S. attorney, has alleged that though the law allows the district's chief executive officer to use discretion in individual cases, the district wrongly employs the practice for nearly all students and has expelled few as a result.

"The U.S. Department of Education guidelines specifically state that the case-by-case exception is not to be used to circumvent the mandatory expulsion requirement," he wrote in his Jan. 15 memo to the commission, which was first reported by the Philadelphia Daily News.

Stollsteimer said the district had stopped short of its responsibility. The district expelled no students last school year and has not expelled any so far this year.

In fact, Stollsteimer said, the district has expelled only two of 22 students involved in gun cases in the last three years.

Judy Shopp, the Pennsylvania Department of Education's chief counsel, informed the Safety Advisory Committee - on which she sits - that an "investigation" had been called for, according to minutes of the April 3 meeting obtained by The Inquirer.

The complaint to the U.S. Attorney's Office was forwarded to the U.S. Department of Education for consideration, according to Sheila Ballen, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

"We're fully cooperating with all the information that the U.S. Department of Education is asking us for," Ballen said.

The U.S. Department of Education declined to comment.

"We don't discuss pending work," spokeswoman Jo Ann Webb said.

Ballen said her department had "the understanding" that the U.S. Department of Education indicated it would need more evidence to launch an investigation.

The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.

Ballen maintained that the law gives the district's chief executive officer discretion in deciding whether to expel or mete out other punishment. Last school year, nine students were involved in gun incidents, she said. None was expelled; seven were sent to disciplinary schools, and one withdrew from the school system. The ninth student, she said, left the district through the legal system.

"The superintendent is making the decision that the district would rather help students involved in this . . . than leave students out on the street without help or guidance," she said.

School officials also have pointed out that state law requires the district to provide an education to expelled students if parents can't find a suitable alternative within 30 days. The district is skipping that 30-day period by sending students directly to a disciplinary school, district spokesman Fernando Gallard said in an interview in February.

"We believe that that is better for the student and better for the community at large," Gallard said. Sending students to the street would cause more dropouts and failure, he had argued.

In a written statement issued yesterday, the district maintained that it complied with the law. Though the district has expelled only 31 students since the 2002-03 school year for "egregious offenses," it sends thousands of students to disciplinary schools each year and some students end up in juvenile detention, Gallard said. Last school year, 2,132 students were transferred out of schools for a variety of offenses, including weapons violations, he said.

In his memo, Stollsteimer also blasted the district for failing to expel or transfer students to disciplinary schools for other serious offenses, such as assault on teachers or possession of other kinds of weapons. He alleged that 71 percent of the 5,207 serious offenses reported in 2006-07 did not result in transfer.

The same year, the district reported 1,898 assaults on staff, yet transferred to disciplinary schools only 22 percent of the students involved in assaults, Stollsteimer's memo said. In addition, 32 percent of the cases resulted in the arrest of students.

The memo came as the Safety Advisory Committee prepares to make recommendations for improving the disciplinary process and safety. The committee's report will be presented to the commission in June, said James Golden, the district's chief safety executive.

Sheila Simmons, education director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth and a member of the district's safety committee, said she supported the district's decision not to expel students.

"I don't see the point of kids, whether they have been convicted of something or not, being on the streets in the middle of the day," she said. "There's not a lot for kids to do during these hours, so they need to be in a classroom somewhere."

The district receives more than $350 million from the federal Education Department annually, about $6.2 million of which is used for safety efforts.

Contact staff writer Susan Snyder at 215-854-4693 or ssnyder@phillynews.com.