Zero tolerance for silly pictures.

• Author: Bailey, Ronald
• Position: Artifact - Brief article

YEARS AFTER the letter jackets and class rings have been put away, adults smile with mild embarrassment at their goofy high school yearbook photos. High school senior Patrick Agin, age 17 and a proud member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, would really have something to smile about if his school agreed to publish this photo.

But that's not going to happen. Principal Robert Littlefield of Portsmouth High School in Rhode Island forbade the yearbook to run it. Why? Because of the school's zero tolerance policy regarding ... swords. "Students wielding weapons is just not consistent with our existing policies or the mission of the school," Littlefield told The New York Times. "I think the picture speaks for itself." Littlefield evidently feels that...