The desire of parents to make sure their children's schools are safe has led to zero tolerance policies that leave school administrators little room to take individual circumstances into consideration. That's according to Ed Yohnka, director of communications for the American Civil Liberties Union. He says the fact is that schools are safer now than they have been in years and administrators are reacting to a threat that no longer exists - if it ever did. In a Jeffersonian sort of way, we talk about using schools to educate kids to become good citizens. Instead of doing those things, we create a fortress mentality.
Kids feel every move they're making is being watched.
It creates distrust between students and teachers. Probably the most widely publicized case of zero tolerance involved six black students kicked out of high school in Decatur, Ill., last fall for their part in a fight at a football game. Initially, they were expelled for two years, but civil rights leader Jesse Jackson got involved and the school board reduced the expulsions to one year. But the board refused to budge further and Jackson sued, claiming the school district's zero tolerance policy violated the students' civil rights. Last week, a federal judge disagreed and upheld the expulsions.