North Brookfield schools have reversed a prohibition on students carrying writing implements on their persons, in backpacks, or on the school bus. The ban was issued last week by two sixth-grade teachers because some students were reportedly using them as weapons.

It was business as usual in the sixth-grade classrooms at the elementary school today.

Some students used traditional yellow No. 2 pencils, while others used pens and mechanical pencils – returning them to their desk or shirt pocket when they were finished.



Last week, Wendy Scott, one of two sixth-grade teachers, sent a letter home to the parents of all sixth-graders announcing that she and Susan LaFlamme were instituting a new rule barring students from carrying any writing implements on their person, in a backpack, or on the school bus.



The memo explained that students would be issued a pencil for use in class that would be collected at the end of the school day.



The memo cited behavior problems and said any student found in possession of a pen or mechanical pencil after Nov. 15 would be assumed to have the implement “to build weapons,” or to have stolen it from the classroom art supply basket.



Offending students would be sent to the principal's office for disciplinary measures, the memo stated.



But yesterday, interim Superintendent Gordon L. Noseworthy explained that the memo was sent home only on the authority of the teacher who penned it, stating it had not been reviewed or approved by either Principal Deborah Peterson or the superintendent.



Ms. Peterson called the newspaper yesterday afternoon and said the matter of the sixth-grade pen proscription “was handled immediately as soon as I became aware of it.”



Asked to comment on the fallout from the teachers' action, she said “There is nothing newsworthy about the day-to-day running of a school.”



Mr. Noseworthy characterized the memo as over the top and said it does not reflect any North Brookfield School District policy.



“We never use words like weapons in this context,” the superintendent said.



He said he explained the situation to the School Committee last night, a meeting that was covered by the Local Public Access Channel.



Mr. Noseworthy said the matter would be dealt with on several levels, stating it was business as usual in the two classrooms, with none of the items named in the memo off limits to students.



Mrs. Scott's memo said the purpose of the new rule was to return the focus to academics rather than discipline.



Police Chief Aram Thomasian Jr. said he was approached Friday by parents of one student who had been suspended for having a pen that had been altered to fire a rolled-up piece of paper.



“The student showed me how it worked. I'd be surprised if the spitball traveled 4 feet. And at that, I'm not even sure it had any spit on it,” he said.



Within the context of state statute, nothing mentioned in the teacher's memo constituted a “weapon,” adding that even a No. 2 pencil could inflict injury if used improperly.



“The principal sent home a follow-up memo to the same families who received the teacher's memo the day before stating that there would be no changes in school procedure," Mr. Noseworthy said.



“This was an attempt to by a fairly new sixth-grade teacher to make changes that were not warranted. The student who was found with an altered pen was suspended and as far as administrators were concerned, the matter was put to rest,” Mr. Noseworthy said.



The superintendent said that anyone familiar with the school district would recognize that something was amiss with the first memo.