Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Charlottesville, VA, USA. more »
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5 replies on ““Zero-tolerance” is so stupid.”
Asinine. Heck, even airline security gives you the option of mailing the pocketknife to yourself.
As a school teacher, this deeply concerns me because there is no incentive for a student to give up a weapon. It could fall into the wrong hands and then pose a threat to the school community. We’re teaching this kid that if you mess up, you will be punished harshly.
That burns me.
Yes it’s stupid. But this isn’t the first time this has happened. In late 2004 (or maybe early ’05) student in a Southern California School was expelled for bringing a box cutter to school.
The girl was an honor roll student who also worked as a stock clerk for a major southern california grocery chain (Ralphs or Pavillions I forget which) and the box cutters, a work tool, had been forgotten in the clothes from the girls previous work shift (the work clothes being one of these types of work pants with multiple pockets).
Just as they said in this article about how a hearing is held and an explusion is not a foregone conclusion, the same was said in the southern california incident. But the girl was still expelled. And when appealed to the school board they refused to over-turn the decision. The conflict in this case was that the school system refused to acknowlege they had a zero tolerance policy while their actions dictated otherwise.
Asinine. Heck, even airline security gives you the option of mailing the pocketknife to yourself.
As a school teacher, this deeply concerns me because there is no incentive for a student to give up a weapon. It could fall into the wrong hands and then pose a threat to the school community. We’re teaching this kid that if you mess up, you will be punished harshly.
That burns me.
Yes it’s stupid. But this isn’t the first time this has happened. In late 2004 (or maybe early ’05) student in a Southern California School was expelled for bringing a box cutter to school.
The girl was an honor roll student who also worked as a stock clerk for a major southern california grocery chain (Ralphs or Pavillions I forget which) and the box cutters, a work tool, had been forgotten in the clothes from the girls previous work shift (the work clothes being one of these types of work pants with multiple pockets).
Just as they said in this article about how a hearing is held and an explusion is not a foregone conclusion, the same was said in the southern california incident. But the girl was still expelled. And when appealed to the school board they refused to over-turn the decision. The conflict in this case was that the school system refused to acknowlege they had a zero tolerance policy while their actions dictated otherwise.
A C’ville-based civil liberties organization has been leading the charge against zero tolerance for many years.