Updated: Portland Schools Change Discipline Policy on Toy Guns

Remember the 8-year-old Portland boy who was suspended for a day earlier this year for bringing a toy gun to Duniway Elementary School?

The boy got that punishment last February because Portland Public Schools policy treated toy guns the same as "simulated weapons." That meant the third-grade student automatically faced a minimum punishment of suspension. The result outraged Aron Anderson, the boy's father, and generated a swell of media coverage. "They're taking it way too far,” Anderson told WW earlier this year.

Apparently, someone at PPS agreed with the dad. This summer administrators changed the district's discipline policy, reclassifying toy weapons as "prohibited items" rather than simulated weapons. As such, the punishment for bringing toy weapons to school now is much less severe. For a first offense, a student faces a discipline conference. See below:



Discipline for bringing a simulated weapon to school still carries a stiff penalty, according to the other details of the district's policy:



One footnote: The change did not have to go before the Portland School Board for approval, according to Jollee Patterson, the school district's general counsel. And now a second footnote at 5 pm: In addition to the rule change, PPS agreed to expunge the boy's discipline record, according to his father. "We fought hard to get these changes made and we believe the school district has made steps in the right direction," he said.