Sixth-Grader Suspended for Tweety Chain

A U S T E L L, Ga., Sept. 28, 2000 -- A sixth-grader has been suspended for 10days because the 10-inch chain on her Tweety bird wallet violatesthe school district’s zero-tolerance weapons policy.

Ashley Smith, an 11-year-old student at Garrett Middle School insuburban Atlanta, received the maximum punishment Tuesday. Thechain connects her wallet to her key rings.

“It’s only a little chain, and I don’t think it can really hurtanyone,” said Ashley, who maintains her own Tweety Web site.

No Appeal

Because her suspension is “short-term,” Ashley cannot appeal,assistant superintendent Tony Arasi said. School officials saidAshley and her parents, Raymond and Carmen Smith, knew chains werebanned.

Smith said the suspension “lacks common sense.”

“A little piece of chain is not a deadly weapon,” he said.

At the beginning of the school year, students were shown samplesof items they could not bring to school. Ashley said she saw achain about 2 feet long and much thicker than the chain on herwallet.

“They shouldn’t have jumped to immediately suspend her,” saidGerry Weber, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union’sGeorgia chapter. He called the suspension “zero-tolerance goneawry.”

The ACLU successfully represented Atlanta student Rose MarieSpearman in 1994 after she was charged with criminal weaponspossession for bringing African tribal knives to school for extracredit.