The Madison School Board voted six to one Monday not to expel a sixth-grader who brought a steak knife to school and indicated the board would re-examine the way students are punished under the district’s weapons policy.

The widely publicized case spurred debate about the district’s zero-tolerance policy, which mandates a school principal expel a student who brings any object defined as a weapon onto school grounds.

Christian Schmidt, 12, was suspended for 14 days from Cherokee Middle School after he brought a serrated steak knife to cut an onion in class. Schmidt reportedly said he brought the knife for a presentation he was doing in science class about onions.

“This kid clearly had no evil intent,” board president Bill Keys said.

Keys said board members felt expelling students who have no intent to harm is overly harsh punishment. But he said members were reluctant to go against the precedent set by past decisions.

Since 1992, 69 students have been expelled for possessing knives at school without threatening anyone.

Juan Jose Lopez, the dissenter, reportedly argued for expelling Schmidt but allowing him to immediately return to school.

He said the board’s action “waters down our policy,” and will create a “gray area” for punishment, The Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Keys said he thinks the 14-day suspension was enough punishment for Schmidt, who is described as a straight-A student.

“We were caught in a bind with a policy that limited our alternatives,” Keys said. “That doesn’t mean we want people to carry knives. [Students] still can’t bring knives to school and will still be suspended if they do.”

Keys said the zero-tolerance weapons policy would remain intact, but that the board is meeting next week to discuss the policy’s disciplinary aspects.

“This is seen as a temporary holding back until we get a better policy,” he said.

A former Madison schoolteacher, Keys said the policy does deter students from bringing, or at least displaying, knives in schools.

“People stopped sharing their [Swiss army knives] with me when I would ask to borrow one,” he said. “[The policy] is a deterrence.”

Schmidt was not the only student the Board decided not to expel. An eighth-grader from Jefferson Middle School whose pocketknife fell out of his pocket at a bus stop is also being allowed to return to school.