A middle school student wearing a fake grenade around his neck Tuesday will be disciplined by school authorities.
    The life-sized replica of a grenade was suspended by a chain around the youth’s neck when a Langston Chapel Middle School teacher noticed it around 2:45 p.m. while the student was in her class, said Hayley G. Greene, the public relations specialist for the Bulloch County Board of Education.
    The eighth grade student was “not using the object to threaten any persons in the classroom,” she said. “However, because it is against the Student Code of Conduct to be in possession of any object that could intimidate any person, the teacher acted immediately and appropriately to contact the school’s office and remove the student from the classroom.”
    The fake grenade was easily identifiable by the teacher and administrator as a replica, she said.  “Since the student was not using the object with the intent to inflict harm on another person, the school was not required to contact local law enforcement.”
    Around 3 p.m., school administrators contacted Kevin Judy, the school system’s assistant superintendent of human resources and student services, as well as Phillip Tremble, the director of human resources, both of whom oversee student disciplinary procedures.
    “Since the offending student was in violation of the Student Code of Conduct, which states that students may not be in ‘possession of any weapon, instrument or object to inflict harm on another person, or to intimidate any person,’ the school system is communicating with the student and his parents to follow the disciplinary procedures outlined in the Bulloch County schools student handbook,” Greene said.
    The school policy covering this offense also lists as weapons “chains, pipes, razor blades, ice picks, dirks, nunchakus, brass knuckles, Chinese stars, Billy club, box cutters, tear gas guns, pepper sprays, electrical weapons or devices, explosives, propellants or any laser or laser-like device.”
    Greene did not specify how the student would be disciplined.