Zero tolerance means no grey area

The Columbine incident has forever changed how schools react to violence in their hallways and on school grounds.  The zero tolerance rule is supposed to be enforced to protect the lives of the students, teachers and staff .  As we have seen in the past decade, the policy has not eradicated violence,  whether in the K-12 schools, universities or even corporations.  It seems that policies are created with all the best intentions at heart.  Most of the time, the enforcement of zero tolerance works.  Students are expelled if they conceal a weapon, talk about having a concealed weapon, create a drawing of a weapon, etc.  But how do you know where to draw the line?

Case in point, just two months ago, 9News reported that a female high school senior had been expelled and even faced expulsion for having three props in her vehicle that were used for her student marine drill team.  The props were made of plastic, wood and duct tape and had been seized by law enforcement after students reported seeing them in her SUV in the parking lot.

9 News reported that “federal and state laws mandate expulsion, and that school districts only have discretion to determine the length of that expulsion.”

“School administrators and police made the decision based on state law that defines a “dangerous weapon” as “a firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, or a firearm facsimile that could reasonably be mistaken for an actual firearm.”

Obviously there needs to be room in the policy to utilize common sense and logic.  This high school senior was going to an off-campus drill team practice after school and simply forgot she couldn’t have the props in the backseat of her vehicle.  Should she be kicked out of school and not allowed to finish her senior year because of an innocent mistake?  I realize that zero tolerance means zero tolerance.  But in this instance, there’s enough of a grey area that the law should be updated for extreme circumstances and exceptions.

In the past decade we as a society still haven’t  figured it all out.  Where can we go from here?

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