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rom: "Diane" <artmis105@aol.com>
Date: Wed Oct 15, 2003 9:34 pm
Subject: Zero Tolerance Appeal
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PAZT/message/4509
This is the appeal I presented or planned to present at a School
Board hearing for my son's Zero Tolerance expulsion. As I began to
read I was told by a hostile board member that it was irrevelant to
the case and was a waste of their time (should I provide a name?).
In the closing statement, the attorney for the school stated that
zero tolerance poicy was applied uniformly and they could not give
consideration to individual circumstances. I am a teacher in this
school district. I have never been so disapointed in our public
education system. So much for due process.
The great Virginia politician and orator, Thomas Jefferson once
said "A Society that will trade a little liberty for a little
justice will lose both, and deserve neither." Perhaps my son would
have studied Jefferson's views on human rights this year in the
United States and Virginia Government class required of Seniors in
Virginia. Unfortunately, due to zero tolerance policies, he will not
be attending that class. Zero Tolerance is sending a new message to
our children. It is teaching them that constitutional guarantees do
not apply to them.
I am writing this appeal, not asking that my son be readmitted
to Stafford County schools, but as a concerned parent, teacher and
citizen who is worried about the implications of zero tolerance
policies upon the future lives of our children and our society. Zero
tolerance is in practice too inflexible and too severe. Under zero
tolerance policies the most severe consequences are uniformly
administered with no consideration of the seriousness of the crime,
previous disciplinary records, grades or attendance. Zero tolerance
has been called the "juvenile equivalent of racial profiling where a
group of people is deprived of their rights, their lives disrupted
and perhaps ruined, based on an unfair perception of their probable
guilt."(Bill Bickel, "Zero Tolerance Must End Now"
http://crime.about.com)
When exactly did we, as a society, think that it would be a good
idea to sacrifice the constitutional rights of our children?
Somewhere, fueled by the fears of Columbine and negative media
publicity, zero tolerance policies were allowed to sneak into school
policy. "So called zero tolerance policies being implemented across
the country are snaring large numbers of regular kids in broad nets
designed to fish for troublemakers." (Tebo, M.G., "Zero Tolerance,
Zero Sense", ABA Journal, April 2000)
Unfortunately, what may have started out as a good idea in
theory has become what amounts to a disaster in practice.
Overcrowded and under funded schools in our changing society are
forced to deal with major problems on a daily basis. Zero tolerance
does nothing to remedy or address these problems. It is simply a
cosmetic solution. It merely gives the appearance of real action.
Zero Tolerance defines our schools as prisons. Schools today are
more like fortresses, closed to the public and secured with cameras,
metal detectors and police officers. Our administrators and teachers
are forced to act as police and our children are perceived as
potential criminals. Is this the message we want to send the
public? Is this the message we want to send our children? "Taking
someone's education away doesn't help anyone. It doesn't make a
school safer. It's contrary to the educational mission and teaches
the wrong lesson about authority. It teaches that authority is harsh
and uncaring." (David Rosen, "Civil Rights Project"
www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu.) Brea Olinda, assistant
superintendent of Orange County, California refers to zero tolerance
as "tough love policies without the love." (Jessica
Garrison, "Schools Learn Zero Tolerance Isn't 100 Percent Foolproof"
LA Times/St. Louis Post Dispatch, Feb. 19)
In recent years, zero tolerance policies have come under
question. The American Bar Association recently voted to oppose zero
tolerance. They made the following recommendations concerning school
discipline: "In cases involving alleged student misbehavior, school
officials should exercise sound discretion that is consistent with
principles of due process and considers the individual student and
the particular circumstances of misconduct" and " "alternatives to
expulsion or referral for prosecution should be developed that will
improve student behavior and school climate without making schools
dangerous" (Nancy Slarin, "ABA Votes to Oppose School `Zero
Tolerance' Policies", www.abanet.org.) Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
publicly stated that she "is worried that zero tolerance laws were
too willing to sacrifice common sense for the politics of public
safety." ("O'Connor, in Speech, Blasts Death Penalty, Lawyer Fees and
Zero Tolerance", AP/FoxNews.com, July 3)
How many lives will we allow to be destroyed under zero tolerance
before we recognize and amend its flaws? What human rights and
freedoms will be sacrificed, and at what price to our society? This
is my story told to the best of my knowledge. It is one of many.
Please read it with an open mind.
It was the beginning of a new school year. The notebooks and
sharpened pencils were placed carefully in the backpack. The new
clothes and shoes, which he had purchased with his first paycheck
from his first job, were laid out in advance the night before.
There was a mixture of excitement and anticipation that comes with
each new school year. There is something about the first day of
school that gives each student, even the supposedly "bad" ones a
fresh start and a chance to begin with a clean slate. This is what
I enjoy about teaching. This was to be my fifteenth year of
teaching in Stafford County, Virginia. My son was starting his
senior year. Little did we know what the day would hold.
Since high school has an earlier starting time, my son showered
and dressed first that morning. From the shower, I heard the phone
ring. It was probably one of the neighborhood children, most likely
the one that I did not approve of. Isn't there always one of those?
I should have stopped then to remind my son not to transport other
students in my car. For a second I had thought about it, but I did
not say it. Instead, I kissed my child goodbye and wished him luck
on his first day of school.
Somewhere during my third period class, I received a phone call
at my school. The secretary informed me that the principal from my
child's school was on the phone and it was an emergency. Imagine
yourself as a parent in that situation. I was terrified, fearing
that there had been an accident. On that particular day our phones
were not working and there was a problem transferring the call to my
room. The secretary covered my class and I walked on wobbly legs to
where the main phone is located in the office. Thus began a
co
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