In the dozen or so years since the majority of Rhode Island’s school districts adopted zero-tolerance policies to keep alcohol, drugs and weapons out of schools, enforcement has at times made the punishment worse than the crime, according to education leaders.

Perhaps most memorably, a kindergarten student was automatically suspended for 10 days for bringing a butter knife to his Pawtucket elementary school in 1995. He brought it to cut cookies.

Peter McWalters, the state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education, “commuted” the boy’s sentence to time served — six days — and called on the Pawtucket School Committee to be “more flexible” when considering infractions by young children.

Yet rigid interpretation of state and federal laws continues. In 2004, a sixth grader at Woonsocket Middle School was arrested and suspended for six days for bringing a kitchen knife to school to peel an orange.

Incidents such as these have led to proposed legislation that would require school administrators to review each case — “taking into account the nature and circumstances of the violation” — before taking disciplinary action.

Today, many districts automatically impose suspensions based on a zero-tolerance policy adopted by school committees. The bill, in contrast, would require a case-by-case analysis.

The House and Senate have both passed identical versions of the bill, which now must be signed by Governor Carcieri to become law. The proposal gives school leaders more discretion when considering appropriate punishments for students who violate school policies “relating to the possession or use of alcohol, drugs or weapons” other than firearms, such as knives, toy guys and prescription medication.

“The current policy is rigid, it’s unbending, it’s unfair, and officials are forced to apply the law to children,” said Sen. Daniel J. Issa, D-Central Falls, who along with Rep. Anastasia P. Williams, D-Providence, sponsored the legislation. “Come on, you have to use common sense. This bill doesn’t necessarily lessen the penalty, but it does give administrators greater latitude to deal with the problem without forcing them into overkill.”

The bill has garnered wide support from the education officials and organizations representing principals, school committees and teacher unions.

“Zero tolerance is clearly well-intended to send a clear message that schools will not put up with violence and drugs,” said John R. Golden, a former principal and head of the Rhode Island Association of School Principals. “But what we do in education is very personal, and we have to take care of kids’ needs on an individual basis. You can’t do that with a single policy.”

Firearms, which include handguns, rifles and realistic replicas, are covered under a separate law that imposes a one-year suspension, although the law allows superintendents to reduce the punishment on a case-by-case basis, which is what happens in Rhode Island. State education officials say no one has received a yearlong suspension since the law went into effect in 1994.

In the 2005-2006 school year, there were more than 30,000 out-of-school suspensions for 40 types of infractions, such as alcohol possession, smoking and bomb threats. Of those, 308 involved students bringing weapons to school.

Districts are required to report all incidents involving weapons using one of five categories. Last year, Rhode Island schools reported 7 handguns, 6 rifles, 39 replica guns, 157 knives and 104 other weapons such as razor blades and brass knuckles. Out-of-school suspensions ranged from 1 to 21 days.

The reporting system is flawed, however, said George McDonough, the state’s program coordinator for Safe and Drug-Free Schools. School administrators sometimes classify plastic squirt guns as firearms, for example.

SUPPORTERS OF the bill list examples of severe punishments meted out over the past decade.

A 7-year-old girl in Sough Kingstown was suspended for four days after she showed off a pocketknife at recess. A 10-year-old boy with epilepsy was suspended for five days for bringing anti-seizure medicine to Chariho Middle School.

“The problem with these policies is that they make no distinction between cocaine and cough drops, between toy guns and real weapons,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union who helped draft the bill.

It is unclear whether Carcieri will sign the bill. Spokesman Jeff Neal said Carcieri has not yet received the bill.

Education officials say that giving school districts more discretion over appropriate punishments would not necessarily weaken the intent of zero-tolerance policies.

McWalters said: “You still need to meet with school officials, with parents, and address the problem. That’s the part of zero tolerance I support — that every incident will be dealt with.”

jjordan@projo.com