By LINDSEY EPLEY
All over the country, seemingly well behaved, sometimes straight-A students are winding up in the principal’s office. These students, often first-time offenders, can be treated like criminals for making what might seem to the average person, a minor mistake. The reason behind this forceful treatment is the often controversial zero-tolerance policy, established in the 1990s.
Originally created to provide gun-free schools, many states have since added on to the policy by suspending or expelling students carrying almost anything that could be considered a weapon, as well as illegal, prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Although zero-tolerance policies could be instrumental in preventing incidents like the Columbine shootings, some schools have taken the policy too far, according to a report by the Bipartisan Working Group on Youth Violence, published on the American Bar Association’s Web site.
“While it is important to carefully review the circumstances surrounding these horrifying incidents so that we may learn from them, we must also be cautious about inappropriately creating a cloud of fear over every student in every classroom across the country.�
According to the Web site of Building Blocks for Youth Web site — an organization whose goal is to promote fair, rational and effective juvenile justice policies — the level of school crime is the same as it was in the 1970s, however, the number of youth suspensions has nearly doubled. Could this be a case of the down side of zero-tolerance policies? Definitely.
Some of the more absurd cases that took place due to zero-tolerance policies, as found in the American Bar Association Journal:
• A high-school junior expelled for shooting a paper clip with a rubber band, breaking the skin of a cafeteria worker.
• A 9-year-old suspended for bringing a manicure kit to school.
• A 12-year-old, diagnosed with a hyperactive disorder, suspended for two days and incarcerated for two weeks for allegedly making “terroristic threats.� He had warned the kids in the lunch line not to eat all of the potatoes, or he was “going to get them.�
United Press International reported other cases of zero-tolerance policies gone bad, including:
• A 6-year-old suspended after giving another student a “drug.� The “drug� was a lemon drop.
• Three boys facing an expulsion hearing after playing with a water gun at school.
Unusual zero-tolerance policy situations have even happened in York County, where a 6-year-old was suspended for bringing nail clippers to school in 1999.
Zero-tolerance policies are effective in situations where students’ lives really are in danger. If a student brings a firearm to school, then he or she should be expelled, no questions asked. But is it really necessary to expel kids for bringing water guns to school?
If we’re going that route, shouldn’t the parents who bought the water gun be charged with aiding and abetting?
Pretty ridiculous, isn’t it?
Lindsey Epley is a Central York High School student and member of the Teen Takeover staff.
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