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Friday, June 18, 2010

NorthJersey.com: Hat banned over toy soldiers

NorthJersey.com: Hat banned over toy soldiers

Hat banned over toy soldiers
Friday, June 18, 2010
WIRE SERVICE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Christan Morales said her son just wanted to honor American troops when he wore a hat to school decorated with an American flag and small plastic Army figures.
Second-grader David Morales wearing a cap he decorated to honor U.S. troops.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Second-grader David Morales wearing a cap he decorated to honor U.S. troops.
But the school banned the hat because it ran afoul of the district's zero-tolerance weapons policy. Why? The toy soldiers were carrying tiny guns.
"His teacher called and said it wasn't appropriate," Morales said.
Morales' 8-year-old son, David, had been assigned to make a hat for the day when his second-grade class would meet their pen pals from another school.
She and her son came up with an idea to add patriotic decorations to a camouflage hat.
Earlier this week, after the hat was banned, the principal at the Tiogue School in Coventry told the family that the hat would be fine if David replaced the Army men holding weapons with ones that didn't have any, according to Superintendent Kenneth R. Di Pietro.