Toy Soldiers

Teachers asked students at the Tiogue School in Coventry, Rhode Island, to make a hat to wear to greet pen pals from another school when they visited. David Morales, 8, decided to add patriotic decorations to his hat, including some toy soldiers. But when he brought the hat to school, teachers sent it home and forced him to wear a regular baseball cap instead. Superintendent Kenneth Pietro said the problem was that the toy soldiers were holding weapons and that violated the school system's zero-tolerance policy on weapons.