Zero Tolerance Policies in Schools Leave Common Sense Behind

With all the violence and school shootings, it is not surprising that many, many school administrators and school boards, partly in response to parental demands, instituted some stringent zero tolerance policies. Parents gave a sigh of relief that their children were now safe from those who would harm them.

However, the strict zero tolerance policies have thrown one important thing right out the window-common sense. Every school child is treated not as an individual, but as a potential terrorist. In many cases, because of zero tolerance policies, even the most innocent of infractions are punished severely without considering the circumstances surrounding the infraction.

Because of zero tolerance policies, when a third grader from Mobile, AL was caught taking a vitamin pill with his lunch, he was reported for substance abuse. He netted a five-day suspension.

A first grader from Youngstown, OH put a plastic knife from the cafeteria in his book bag. He merely wanted to show his mother he'd learned how to spread butter on his bread. His motives didn't matter. Because of zero tolerance policies, his awful crime netted him a ten-day suspension.

When a 13-year-old from Greeley, CO, who had never been in trouble, brought a key chain laser pointer to school, because of zero tolerance policies, he was accused of bringing in a firearm facsimile and hustled off to an alternative program where he is required to take conflict resolution classes with juvenile delinquents.

A 12-year-old from El Paso, TX stuck his tongue out at a girl and, because of zero tolerance policies, received a three-day suspension for sexual harassment.

A 16-year-old honor student from Hurst, TX took a box of his grandmother's things to a Goodwill store. Unfortunately, a security guard found the butter knife that had fallen from the box in the teen's pickup bed. For his crime, because of zero tolerance policies, the teen was expelled.

Two 8-year-old boys from Irvington, NJ were accused of making terrorist threats. Their crime? They'd pointed paper guns at their classmates. Though a judge ultimately dismissed the case, it will remain on their court records until age 18.

In the name of stopping violence, normal childhood behavior, normal little pranks, even totally innocent events are punished to the fullest extent of the law. In our paranoia, we're destroying the very thing we sought to protect-our childrens' childhood. And, while good, normal kids are being punished in school, the violence still continues. School violence still happens. In fact, this zero tolerance policy, if anything encourages violence. Why should a student even try to behave when everything, however innocent or inadvertent, is blasted out of proportion? Because of zero tolerance policies, some schools have become a big brother nightmare These schools are reminiscent of oppressive totalitarian regimes.

I'm certainly glad I attended public school when common sense ruled or I would have had a juvenile record in elementary school as would many of those with whom I went to school. Kids fight, kids make up, kids say and do things. It's all part of growing up.

Yes, we must address real problems, but how can schools address serious issues when every childhood misstep is considered a serious crime? Punishment needs to fit the crime committed. We don't lock every offender up for 50 years. Ideally, courts try to fit punishment to the crime. Shouldn't students have the same consideration?

It is time we reassess school policies. It is time we not only "lay down the law," but also consider the impact of those laws on our children. It is time to consider the whole picture of the incident, not just the infraction. It is time to put "common sense" back into school policies and school discipline.