Zero Tolerance in Schools

[ASTalumna06]

These kinds of stories present two problems:

1) An overreaction to a minor "infraction"
2) The punishment used in response to the infraction

In the example aephi alum presents above, the irrational, overblown assumption/concern is that this child wants to kill his classmate. Schools claim they need to come down hard on these students and show them that there's "no tolerance" for such behavior. However, if you were really concerned that this child wanted to harm another student (or students), do you really think that suspending him for three days is the solution?

Regarding the story that I initially posted - if there was actually a concern that this student was throwing up a gang sign, where is the concern for the student's well-being? Who is there to help him? Where are the adults asking, "What went wrong?" or "Is he ok?" or "Maybe we should sit down and talk with him and figure out how things are at school/home." If he was really part of a gang, do you think suspending him indefinitely, to possibly socialize with this gang more, is going to solve the problem?

While schools overreacting is a concern, I don't think this bothers me as much as the way they're punishing these students. If a student wanted to harm someone else, or if a student was in a gang, shouldn't someone want to help them?

[ASTalumna06]

http://wavy.com/2014/03/19/student-s...ing-classmate/

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A Virginia Beach sixth grader who came to the aid of a classmate who was cutting his arm returned to school Friday with a clean record after initially facing expulsion for her actions.

Last Thursday at Bayside Middle School, Adrionna Harris took a razor from the student, threw it away and convinced him what he was doing wasn’t right.

She thought she was doing the right thing, so Friday she told the school administration what happened. The way school officials responded led to a question of if the school’s zero tolerance policy went too far.

Instead of getting praise from the school administration, Adrionna got a 10 day suspension with recommendation for expulsion.

[Dnpgopenguins]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

These kinds of stories present two problems:

1) An overreaction to a minor "infraction"
2) The punishment used in response to the infraction

In the example aephi alum presents above, the irrational, overblown assumption/concern is that this child wants to kill his classmate. Schools claim they need to come down hard on these students and show them that there's "no tolerance" for such behavior. However, if you were really concerned that this child wanted to harm another student (or students), do you really think that suspending him for three days is the solution?

Regarding the story that I initially posted - if there was actually a concern that this student was throwing up a gang sign, where is the concern for the student's well-being? Who is there to help him? Where are the adults asking, "What went wrong?" or "Is he ok?" or "Maybe we should sit down and talk with him and figure out how things are at school/home." If he was really part of a gang, do you think suspending him indefinitely, to possibly socialize with this gang more, is going to solve the problem?

While schools overreacting is a concern, I don't think this bothers me as much as the way they're punishing these students. If a student wanted to harm someone else, or if a student was in a gang, shouldn't someone want to help them?

The problem that I have seen is that people, administrators, ect. Don't seem to care once the kids are out of the school,or building, ie public library, ect. They only care about what affects them directly and when the library closes for the day or the kids get sent home there is little to no concern for what happens to the kid. I think this is how people can justify zero tolerance.

I think that legally this is the case as well. For example, I use to volunteer at the public library with the teen program and was told by one of the women working there that they have a responsibility to protect the kids while the kids are in the library. But that same woman seemed to not care at all if the library was closing and its dark outside and a kid(s) parent isn't there to pick the kid up. Well, I often would wait outside in the parking lot with the kid(s), sometimes other parents would wait with me and the kid. But I was told that If a kid accused me of doing something inappropriate, then I could get in a lot of trouble and that is why at 8pm the kids are no longer a concern. Wow, I really couldn't do that. Really, I'm more concerned about the kids safety than being sued.
Idk, this world is just screwed up!
DNP

[badgeguy]

Originally Posted by pinkman

We had great schools before diversity.

huh?