6-year-old suspended for bringing camping utensil to school

Zachary Christie was so excited about joining the Cub Scouts that he brought the camping utensil he had received to school so he could eat his lunch with it. The problem is the utensil has a fork, spoon and knife attached to it.

Zachary Christie is a 6-year-old first grader who attends Downes Elementary School in Newark, Delaware. He is a happy little boy who loves school, is active in his church youth group, plays Little League Baseball, is a Cub Scout, studies martial arts, and is involved in school activities. With the zero-tolerance policy for bringing weapons to school in the Delaware's Christina School District, little Zachary has been suspended from school. Even though he didn't know he was violating his school's policy on bringing dangerous weapons to school he could also face attending the district's reform school for 45 days according to FoxNews.com. A statement from the school district reads: "At this time, the Student Code of Conduct does not take into consideration a child's age in a Level three offense." This is the first incident this year involving a student under the age of seven in possession of a dangerous instrument. Christina School District staff and the Christina Board of Education are constantly examining ways to improve policies regarding student discipline." School officials said they had no choice but to suspend him based on their code of conduct because "regardless of possessor’s intent,” knives are banned. While the family is trying to overturn the punishment Zachary's mother, Debbie Christie,is home-schooling the youngster. As the boy is practicing writing lower-case letters he says, "It just seems unfair.” The nytimes.com reports Debbie Christie said, “Zachary wears a suit and tie some days to school by his own choice because he takes school so seriously. He is not some sort of threat to his classmates." Christie has set up a website, helpzachary.com, hoping to recruit supporters to pressure the local school board at its next open meeting on Tuesday. You can also send Zachary a message of support via the site.