Events like this remind me of the movie Brazil, with a hint of Idiocracy.
They will probably conclude that he failed to file the correct paperwork, send notarized copies to the school, the school district, state governor, CIA, NSA, FBI and the POTUS. He also didn't get explicit written permission from each of those entities to demonstrate his electronics project to his teacher. Children need to know there are procedures to follow, and those aren't documented anywhere or taught to them. It's clearly their fault for not knowing how things really work, especially for anyone who can be categorized in any way, such as ethnic sounding names or non-albino pigmentation.
If this kind of situation isn't dealt with harshly, you never know what the next kid will do. Today it was a harmless electronics project, tomorrow it could be a harmless electronics project powered by a potato. Combining electronics and biology is an inconceivable danger we cannot allow to happen.
In high school, I showed the teacher in charge of the computer lab how to get the admin password from the network server. I told him it could be done on the console by anyone in a few minutes and showed that it took less than 5 minutes. I also told him that removing the keyboard and monitor from the server and making it physically difficult to access would prevent others from doing the same in the future. And here, 25 years later I'm working for a large financial institution, reading stories about security and posting on Slashdot. Come on people - posting on Slashdot? Is that the kind of future we want for our children?
For those under 35, please disregard this post unless you have received special training on recognizing sarcasm and humor.