PITTSBURGH — A state appeals court says a girl who stabbed another in the neck with a pencil at a Pittsburgh high school won’t have her suspension on her permanent record because the pencil wasn’t a “weapon” under the school’s conduct code.

Monday’s Commonwealth Court ruling upholds a lower court’s finding.

Pittsburgh Public Schools officials suspended the girl, who was then a 14-year-old 10th grader, for the attack last May at the Barack Obama International Academy.

The girl and her father sought a less-severe punishment, saying the sole reason for the harsh discipline was the district treating the incident as “possession of a ‘weapon’ ... rather than responding to the actual misbehavior.”

An Allegheny County judge agreed and the district appealed, prompting Monday’s ruling.