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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True®
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Zero Tolerance: Fighting Fire With Fire
Just when I think there can't be even more outrageous examples of Zero Tolerance -- in schools or in real life -- I come across more that I just can't resist telling you about. But there is hope, which I'll get to in a minute. First, one of the ZT stories from this week's issue to illustrate:
Free Weird Newsletter
Zero Tolerance, Zero Thought
Casey Harmeier, 10, a student at Beckendorf Intermediate School in Tomball, Texas, responded to a "dare" by another student to open the cover on a fire alarm pull switch. Everyone agrees that he didn't intend to actually pull the alarm -- and he didn't. But opening the cover set off a horn designed to scare children against pulling the alarm, and when that went off an adult rushed over to silence it -- and accidentally pulled the fire alarm. Principal Dolores Guidry called police, who hauled the boy away without notifying his parents. He was charged with setting a false alarm -- a felony. When it became clear what really happened, the principal told prosecutors they were overreacting. The district's assistant superintendent also asked that charges be dismissed. But prosecutors refuse, instead thinking that reducing it to a misdemeanor is sufficient. (Houston Chronicle) ...In their quest to save face, prosecutors are willing to sacrifice a child. How proud their ethics professors must be.
The last time I did an essay on ZT I noted a couple of students sued their schools over the matter. One won $90,000 from the school, and $80,000 from the school's armed ZT enforcement division -- the local police department. In the other case, a judge ordered the school to reinstate the student. I editorialized that such lawsuits will certainly be the way to end ZT in schools and other bureaucratic institutions. An odd thing for the author of the "True Stella Awards" to promote? Not at all: I've always said that most lawsuits are legitimate. Just because some aren't doesn't mean that it's not an effective tool in righteous situations. When suits against ZT are filed and won, it will certainly be a powerful tool for reform.
But there's another tool that could be more effective, if only politicians would follow through: legislative action. After such cases as you read in True, state legislators often get into the act. Texas has a lot of ZT cases, and has had a lot of action from legislators -- all, unfortunately, totally ineffective (so far).
I truly love it that other columnists are finally taking up the cause regarding ZT -- something I've been doing since 1997 (ten years!) Anyway, after the fire alarm case, Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey wrote a piece titled "Bills Seek to Decriminalize Childhood" (now there's a good idea!) He reported on several attempts in the Texas legislature to counter ZT in schools:
- "Rep. Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands), who chairs the House Education Committee, tried to pass legislation two years ago that would have required school officials to take into consideration such factors as the child's intention in the matter and his or her disciplinary history. The bill was watered down after school officials promised they would cut back on 'zero tolerance' idiocy." As you have seen in True, they didn't cut back on their idiocy. But too late: the empty promise killed the bill.
- "Rep. Dora Olivo (D-Missouri City) is pushing a bill that would allow a student who discovers he inadvertently left a Boy Scout knife in his pocket, or a hunting gun in his truck, to tell a school official and turn the knife or gun over without reprisal." How sad that such a bill is needed, but it is.
- And most recently, "Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) says he may call [the fire alarm kid] to testify regarding legislation intended to turn 'zero tolerance' into 'common sense' at the state's schools," Casey reports. What a concept! Dutton is in a position to do something: he chairs the House Committee on Juvenile Justice & Family Issues and was "appalled" at the charges against the boy. And it's not just that case that gets his attention. Cops, Dutton says, have "issued tickets for chewing gum." Mr. Dutton, that's hardly the most outrageous thing they've done! Luckily, he finds it outrageous that police departments are being used to enforce school rules.
In my opinion, this is where the real trouble often starts: the police take action, and sometimes find themselves in a position where they "have to" find a criminal charge to justify arresting the kids for school rule violations, and then the wheels of "justice" are put in motion, subjecting the kids to the possibility of truly harsh punishments for minor transgressions. Once charges are filed, prosecutors feel like they have to keep pressing, since they'd lose face (and lose a case!) if they don't see the charges through.
If police need to be called, and I don't dispute that often they do, Dutton insists that parents be called first unless there's a true emergency going on. This is critical: kids often are programmed to respect adults, and they end up confessing to transgressions. What they're really doing is confessing to crimes, providing sometimes the only solid evidence used to prosecute them. Parents need to realize that whatever their kids say "can and will be used against them in a court of law." Idiotic school principals will often even pressure the kids to write their confessions down and sign them -- and then that's used in court against the kids! Advise the kids of their rights? No need: school officials aren't the police, so they're not required to do that. (They are, however, government officials, so it'd be interesting to see a lawsuit over this point.) Parents need to learn this vital lesson: they must not allow their kids to confess transgressions, especially in writing, without the counsel of a lawyer. It's truly sad that it's come to this, but children are ending up with criminal records over truly trivial mistakes that kids make. That's "fire", and school officials took the first shot. It's time to fight fire with fire. Pull the alarm, Casey.
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Most Recent Comments
Posted by Donna-Missouri on October 24, 2007:
Here's one more for Zero Thought! My daughter handed a classmate her bottle of aspirin because he asked if she had a couple. Instead of passing little pills around the classroom she handed the clearly marked bottle, the same bottle the aspirin was purchased in. Her classmate took the bottle out of the classroom with him and at lunch ingested 20 of those aspirin. Super-sensitive kid, distraught over his girlfriend leaving him just wanted to forget about his problems...no intent of suicide, not a drug user, so he thought he could get "high". My daughter had no intent of helping him get high, he asked for an aspirin for his headache!
Well to make a very long story short, my daughter was pulled out of class and admitted to giving her friend a bottle of aspirin. Was informed that school policy states it is a "drug", therefore must be treated as any other drug, legal, illegal, prescription, or over-the-counter. Both her and her classmate were suspended for 10 days out of school, and the principal recommended another 30 days in-school suspension. Both kids would also have to submit to a drug test, before being let into school. If they were found "clean", their 40 day sentence would be cit in half.
Ourselves as well as the young man's family appealed. We met with the school board, armed with a letter from her pediatrician, stating it was in her best interest to return to school, and her negative drug test. We pleaded on behalf of our daughter to be permitted to return to school. She was an A-B student with no other disciplinary actions other than a detention for not dressing out in gym, under her belt.
Our appeal with met with opposition. We received a call later on that night stating the board has agreed to uphold her sentence. We were crushed and really feel the board is using her and her classmate as an example of what can happen to a child with an OTC medication.
We could appeal again, but have decided to contact our representatives instead. I am all for changing the law that took the authority out of the teachers and administrators hands. I am contacting all the media in our area and plan to bring notice to some of the ridiculous outcomes of the so-called zero-tolerance policy. We have been interviewed by a local news station that has vowed to keep up with the story. My local and state representatives will be next. The school board will be tabling the policy in two weeks, I plan to be there and help them review the policy.
I really think, in our case, the possession of aspirin or methamphetamines should not be handled alike. And the punishment for said possession should not be the same, especially if the intent of the aspirin was to relieve a headache.
Posted by Laura, Georgia on June 24, 2008:
"Not to mention that it's my understanding that "special education" students are generally exempt from ZT."
Unfortunately, this is not the case, at least not in Georgia. My son is on the autism spectrum, and I am a member of several support groups for children with disabilities in this state. I have heard I cannot even count how many stories of children with different disabilities, anything from ADHD to Cerebral Palsy, being punished under Zero Tolerance, even for things that clearly stemmed from their disabilities. My own son was suspended for 3 days at age 8 for "hitting a teacher". He was "hand-flapping", an self-stimulating autistic behavior so classic that it was used in the move "Rainman" for goodness sake, and ended up flapping a teacher in the face when she got close to him to try to force him to stop.
Children with disabilities are told that they just need to try harder. How can a child with virtually no fine motor skills try harder to hold a pencil properly? How can a child with autism just try harder to understand social skills when they are not usually taught and their brains are not wired that way? How will I protect my son from Zero Tolerance if he cannot even understand why he should not correct a teacher in class, even if he is right?
I am very fearful of middle school, where children are expected to be little adults, and not to ask parents for assistance with anything. He will be in a very scary place for a while, and I cannot homeschool. We need my job in order to keep our home.
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I'm amazed that this is the case in some states, but this certainly does show the lack of any actual thinking regarding the concept of enforcing "zero tolerance", and how children are victimized by it. I'm working hard to get it stopped; obviously it's taking longer than I thought.... -rc
Posted by Chris, NC on August 3, 2008:
I graduated H.S. in 1994, just before the ZT stuff really started to get in gear. We had a bit of it, but it wasn't anything like the monstrosity it has become.
Much like "Morgan, Tallahassee" wrote, I went to college to become a teacher (music and english, specifically), Despite graduating, gaining the degree, and holding a teaching certificate, I have never taught at a public school.
While I was going through college, I was observing what was going on in U.S. public schools (and even some private schools). By the time I got my degree, I had already decided that I wasn't going to teach, for several reasons. It's too bad I didn't make that decision before spending so much time on something I'd never use.
ZT policies that were getting worse and worse had a big effect on that decision. Pay (and arts funding) was another part of it, of course. Add to all of that the treatment given to male teachers on even the suspicion of impropriety.
With those three big negatives in front of me, I decided to do other things with my life. Even with all of that, it was a tough decision, as I really wanted to teach. Since then, I've done private and small group music lessons, and some English and math tutoring, but I've never entered the public school system.
My advice to parents...
If you can, take your kids out of the schools that follow ridiculous ZT policies. Homeschool them or send them to private schools, if you can.
If you must send your child to a school like this, give them the advice mentioned by other parents. Explain to your children how ZT works. As one person posted, tell them not to "confess" to anything. And, if ZT policies hit your child unjustly, fight back.