In Hilton Head, South Carolina, a ten-year-old boy was suspended from school for two days and faces further penalties -- because he brought a broken pencil sharpener to school.
Yes, that's the only reason. From The Island Packet:
A teacher at Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School noticed the boy had what appeared to be a small razor blade during class on Tuesday, according to a Beaufort County sheriff's report.
It was obvious that the blade was the metal insert commonly found in a child's small, plastic pencil sharpener, the deputy noted. ...
District spokesman Randy Wall said school administrators are stuck in the precarious position between the district's zero tolerance policy against having weapons at school and common sense.
"We're always going to do something to make sure the child understands the seriousness of having something that could potentially harm another student, but we're going to be reasonable," he said.
Here's a hint: when you're treating the innocent possession of a broken pencil sharpener as if the child was stropping a two-foot-long machete on his classmates' quivering backs, we're long past "reasonable."
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