TAUNTON — The superintendent of Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School said he’s not about to second-guess his principal for suspending two B-P students after they posted a Facebook photo holding replica assault weapons the same day a Washington state teen shot five fellow students in his high school.

“They know it’s wrong in this day and age to do something that can only be provocative and will upset and excite other students,” B-P Superintendent Richard Gross said.

“To do that is just foolish,” he said.

Sixteen-year-old Tito Velez and his girlfriend, Jamie Pereira, don’t deny they posed in formal attire Friday night with the realistic-looking, airsoft-style guns before heading out to the school’s annual homecoming dance.

Nor do they deny that the photo was posted to a Faceook page, which is how it came to the attention of B-P Principal Carolyn Pearson.

Velez allegedly told one news outlet he and his girlfriend simply wanted to “do something unique and different instead of using flowers like everyone else.”

For now, at least, both Velez and Pereira are suspended, Gross said. The length of suspension will be determined after a meeting between school officials and parents, according to Gross.

Gross said Velez and Pereira were not being punished for deciding to pose side-by-side at home holding replica guns, both of which were angled toward the floor.

He said the pair were suspended Monday when it was brought to the attention of school officials that news of the photo was creating “a disruption” among other students.

Gross also said it was unacceptable that a caption, which has since been removed, was posted with the photo reading “Homecoming 2014.”

“Anyone who saw that knew they were talking about B-P,” Gross said.

Gross said Taunton police informed him that if they had seen the photo on Facebook on Friday they would have shut down the homecoming dance.

Jailes Pereira said his daughter and her boyfriend got the guns two months ago and sometimes use them outdoors for fun and sport. Airsoft weapons fire non-lethal projectiles.

Pereira, 56, said the photo was taken at the Velez household by Tito’s father and subsequently posted online by the boy.

“They had no intention of getting anyone excited,” Pereira said, adding that he also understands the argument that some students or faculty members might be upset by the image.

“I get it, but they (his daughter and Velez) were not thinking,” he said.

Pereira said the two were not aware of the Washington state shooting, where a 14-year-old boy killed himself after shooting five teens, including two of his own cousins.

In that incident, one student was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting and a 14-year-old girl who was shot in the head was taken off life support Sunday night.

Gross said even if Velez and Pereira didn’t know about last week’s shooting they should have been sensitive to other shooting incidents on school grounds, such as in Newton, Connecticut, where a 20-year-old murdered 20 young children and six adults in 2012.

“These are not little kids,” Gross said, referring to Velez and Pereira. “They are 11th-graders who know better.”

Jailes Pereira said his wife, whose brother is a police officer, called him after she found out the photo was on the Internet.

He said he immediately contacted the father of his daughter’s boyfriend and urged him to remove it.

Pereira said a B-P official hand-delivered a letter Monday stating that his daughter could be suspended as long as 10 days. He also complained that he and his wife should have been contacted before a Taunton police officer was called to the school and began interviewing the teens.

“It was done all wrong,” he said.

Gross said all of his students need to understand the gravity of doing anything that disrupts the school.

“If you do stuff that upsets your peers and colleagues there will be consequences,” he said.

Gross also said the media response Tuesday was almost surreal, with one TV crew skulking around school grounds vying for interviews and photo ops.

“We even got a call from the (Airsoft) gun manufacturer complaining that we were punishing them (the manufacturer),” he said.

This story contains reporting from WCVB.