zero tolerance
"We have to send a message that we're serious about no guns and drugs," says Michael Resnick, associate executive director for advocacy and issues management at the National School Boards Association (NSBA). "We can't be fuzzy around the edges about that message." (Koch 2000, pg. 2) But how serious is serious? Do they really need to take the policies and punishments this far? For drugs and guns, yes they certainly do, but suspending a child for bringing in a toy gun and or even a medication such as Tylenol or Midol is absurd. Some administrators feel that bringing a toy gun is a violence factor or that Tylenol is considered a drug. Many people would disagree with those administrators about this. These people feel that schools have gone too far with their rules and regulations and the kind of punishments that take place with the incidents that have occurred. Zero tolerance is the policy or practice to not tolerate undesirable behavior, such as violence or illegal drug use, especially in the automatic imposition of severe penalties for the first offenses. (Dictionary.com 2002) In Florida, an 18 year old National Merit Scholar was pulled out of her class, handcuffed, charged with a felony and banned from her gra
Another reason zero tolerance policies have become a problem in certain school districts is because of the many dilemmas it causes with the students. William Modzeleski, director of an Education Department's Safe and Drug-Free School Program, says that local zero tolerance policies go far beyond the federal gun-free schools legislation. This then leads to parents putting lawsuits on the school district, taking the child out of school, or even moving to a different school district. Unable to make the 30-mile trip to school, all five dropped out. Zero-tolerance policies are used to reduce violence and increase school safety. 798) School systems still do not need to be as strict as they are with some of the innocent things children are bringing in. 792) This would all be nice if it were true. The criminal charges were soon dropped; but the teenagers were suspended and lost their bus privileges. The students are expelled from school because of something that wasn't even harmful or dangerous in any which way. 57) In some cases, carrying cough drops, wearing black lipstick, dying your hair blue or carrying nail clippers to school are expellable offenses. In the fall of 1991 in Mississippi, five high school students passed the time on the long bus right home by tossing peanuts at each other. So are box cutters and baseball bats. There are more serious problems that school officials should worry about. Zero tolerance is something important for school districts to have.
Common topics in this essay:
Department Education,
Sarah Boman,
School Program,
Columbine School,
Merit Scholar,
Prevention Office,
School Wald,
Star David,
Tylenol Midol,
Association NSBA,
zero tolerance,
tolerance policy,
zero tolerance policy,
tolerance policies,
zero tolerance policies,
school districts,
school administrators,
koch 2000 pg,
schools students,
school officials,
koch 2000,
2000 pg,
2002 online,
bringing toy gun,
tolerance policies school,
|
Acceptance Essays
