The

might sue the

if it doesn't allow students to wear currently banned breast cancer awareness bracelets that read: “I Heart Boobies. Save a Breast,” said Mary Catherine Roper, staff attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

School district officials say the bracelets are inappropriate and distracting to the educational process. They have punished at least three Easton Area Middle School 7-8 students with in-school suspensions and barred them from attending a formal dance Nov. 19 because they refused to remove bracelets in school, according to parents of two of those students.

Amy Martinez, a parent of one of the students, contacted the ACLU to fight for her 12-year-old daughter, Kayla, to be able to attend the dance and have the suspension removed from her student records.

Brianna Hawk, 13, one of the students suspended Thursday, said she and the others were aware the bracelets were banned, but decided to wear them anyway.

Kayla Martinez said she plans to circulate a petition to her fellow students urging the district to allow the bracelets to be worn.