Pencil Jab Results in School Suspension

November 8, 2009 by Cathy Ribble  
Filed under: News

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Sixth-grader Harmon Dehnert was suspended from school recently until next fall for jabbing another student with a pencil.

While the school administrators believed that a 10-day suspension was appropriate, the Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 board voted unanimously that Harmon had used the pencil as a weapon and expelled him on October 26.

On October 14, Harmon Dehnert was in math class at John F. Kennedy Middle School when he and another boy were miming to each other.  The other boy said something Harmon didn’t like, so Harmon crawled to the boy’s desk and “poked” the boy in the knee with a sharp No. 2 pencil.  The pencil penetrated the boy’s jeans and left what looked like a mosquito bite.

“I just, like, poke him,” Harmon said.  “I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

Harmon and his family realize what he did was wrong, but they don’t agree with the consequences ordered by the school district.  Harmon can enroll for next semester in the district’s alternative school, Plainfield Academy.  The family’s other options are private school or homeschool.

The family believes that the incident might have been prevented if the school had provided a special education plan tailored to Harmon’s severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Many schools are adopting a “zero tolerance” policy with regard to rules and regulations concerning student behavior and safety.  School officials would rather err on the side of caution than face a school tragedy.

“I think school administrators are very afraid of being criticized, ” said John Elson, a Northwestern University law professor.  “They’re cautious.  They have a duty to protect the student body in general.”

Pencils, compasses and paper clips can now join the ranks of guns and knives as weapons.  Regulations vary from school district to school district, from state to state.  If an object is used by a student as a weapon against another student, there are serious consequences.  What used to be often written off as “horse play” or “boys will be boys” has serious consequences in this day and age of heightened violence.

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