The Brookhaven School District sent a very stern note home toparents last week — they have adopted a zero tolerance weaponpolicy and they plan to enforce it.

A Mamie Martin kindergarten student was suspended two weeks agofor bringing a plastic toy gun to school. The child is back inschool now, but the message is loud and clear.

Some may question the harshness of the penalty on a kindergartenstudent, but the school officials say they have no room forcompromise. One has to only be reminded about the shooting inMichigan earlier this year involving a first grader, whichtragically took the life of a classmate, to see the seriousness ofthe situation.

It is a sad comment on our society when preschool children aresubject to suspensions for disciplinary reasons. But when thoseactions are to insure the safety of the rest of the children, it isnot hard to justify.

Parents and educators working together to enforce the rules willhopefully calm the nerves of parents fearful of repeats of theschool shootings that have unnerved our nation over the past fewyears.

We support the efforts of our local school boards. They willundoubtedly come under pressure from some parents when suchpolicies are enforced, but the rest of us say ‘thank you.’