So here's a story about a fourth grader who brought his pencil sharpener to school and was subsequently suspended. Apparently it was the razor out of his broken pencil sharpener. I particularly like the following highlights:

The razor/sharpener was confiscated (like most contraband) for the parent to pick up, and the report says: "The Suspect's [me: suspect??] mother said that she did not want the piece of metal returned to her". I can just see her now… You can keep that stupid thing! Why would I want it back??

And the detective's conclusion: "Based on my discussions with the parties involved I do not believe there was any criminal intent in this incident"

Wow.

I hope, if I become a teacher, I would be able to say I would have made nothing of it…however…it's easy to fault the teacher or administrator here, but since the school or district has a "zero-tolerance policy", according to then they could very well be reprimanded or fired if it were discovered they didn't do anything about the "threat". To wit:

"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"

The real fault lies in the district's zero-tolerance policy, which is no substitute for good and sensible teachers to make judgment calls on how to deal with any particular situation. My youngest brother was a victim of zero-tolerance a time or two – a particularly harsh punishment was enacted for a not-so-particularly egregious offense.

But don't take my word for it…read the news story here, and police report here or here