Apparently this 16 YO was clearing brush and forgot he had the pocket knife on him, he went to a football game at his high school, saw the "NO WEAPONS" sign, and handed it over to a security guard.
I would have either stashed it somewhere I could find it later, or not said anything. This kid has high-integrity and yet he got suspended for 10 days because he obeyed the rules.
Did he deserve the suspension?
IMO even if he had a bad reputation at the school he still was obeying the rules.
NOTE that the knife was probably a fixed blade, if he was clearing brush/setting up a hunting blind, but to fit in his pocket it would hardly be a machete.
This reminds me of the time my best friend went shooting with his dad years ago (he was like 11) and he wore the same pants to school the next day. I was in class when he realized he had a pocket full of live bullets! XD He turned them in and nothing happened, he graduated valedictorian and gave some stupid speech about liking the people he met in high school.
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Zero tolerance policies are absolutely absurd. A few years ago, my little brother was suspended for, I shit you not, pretending a chicken nugget was a laser gun.