Schools becoming more 'tolerant' as 'zero tolerance' rules end
School officials don't take it lightly when a student brings a knife to campus.
But when they draw no distinction between a Bowie and a bread knife, discipline can go awry.
This year, schools throughout North Texas are implementing a new state law that ends such "zero tolerance" policies. Under House Bill 171, administrators now must consider mitigating factors such as intent and self-defense when doling out punishment.
That's welcome news for Robert Hess, whose son Taylor was briefly expelled from L.D. Bell High School in Hurst after a bread knife fell out of a 20-year-old cutlery set bound for Goodwill, and was found in his truck bed on campus.
"That certainly would have saved us an awful lot of trouble," said Hess, who holds no ill will toward school administrators over the 2002 incident. "They were bound by their own rules that they had written to dole out this ridiculous punishment, which was one year in alternative education."
Taylor, an honor student and champion swimmer, ultimately served only a few days at an alternative campus when his predicament came to light in news reports. But if not for the public outcry that followed, Hess said he would have done what was necessary to protect his son.
"If we were unable to get him into the school where he belonged," he said, "I was fully prepared to move him to another state."
50,000 suspensions
Other students haven't been as fortunate. In 2007-08, nearly 50,000 students were suspended from school, 14,000 were placed in alternative education programs and 1,300 were expelled in Region X, which includes Dallas and Collin counties.
Some of those students deserve a second chance, says state Sen. Mario Gallegos, and that's why he sponsored HB 171.
Gallegos cited the case of a boy who testified before the senator's committee after his friends pressured him into pulling a fire alarm at school. The 10-year-old was arrested, finger-printed and booked, he said.
"He even showed us his mug shot," the senator said. "You don't do that to 10-year-olds."
Beyond the initial shock, students who are suspended or expelled are far more likely to drop out of school as a result, said Eric Blumenson, a law professor at Suffolk University in Boston who researched zero tolerance.
"There are a lot of people who, for very minor offenses, were denied an education or tracked off to some kind of warehousing situation," he said. "It seemed very socially destructive to do that."
The shuffling of students to alternative education campuses was among the chief concerns of the bill's author, Rep. Dora Olivo of Fort Bend.
"Parents came to me ... and said, 'They're warehousing our kids,' " said Olivo, whose bill passed the House and Senate unanimously over the summer.
Zero tolerance gained traction after the Columbine school shooting in 1999 but originated with the war on drugs and strict federal funding mandates against weapons, Blumenson said.
More federal guidance came in 2005 with new guidelines from the No Child Left Behind Act, and that's when schools began to relax their codes of conduct, said Julie Harris-Lawrence of the Texas Education Agency.
"It started giving schools, not so much wiggle room, as it did just real guidance," said Harris-Lawrence, deputy associate commissioner for health and safety.
No 'zero tolerance'
This year, Garland ISD scrubbed any reference to "zero tolerance" from its code of conduct and dedicated a principal in-service day to the matter, spokesman Chris Moore said.
Last year the district made headlines when a junior at Sachse High School was sent to an alternative campus for 32 days after a knife that was to be used as a haunted house prop was found in her car. Under the new rules, Moore said, when a weapon is found on campus, an investigation still would be performed, but the results could change.
"In a way we were bound, you know, it was zero tolerance," he said. "Once you take into consideration what went on and you do your investigation ... the outcome could potentially change."
In Plano ISD, the code had allowed administrators to consider mitigating factors, district spokeswoman Nancy Long said. Now it requires it.
Such circumstances were always considered in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district, said Charles Cole, assistant superintendent for student, family and community services. Still, the district is revising its policies, in accordance with the law.
Fred Hink of Texas Zero Tolerance, a nonprofit group seeking reform in school discipline, said the law is a step in the right direction, but he expects it to have little impact.
"School districts don't want to have to deal with these disciplinary decisions," he said, "so either it's a one-size-fits-all punishment for everybody or, in a lot of cases, they'll call in the police and have them deal with it."
Hink said that until there's an appeal system in place and parents are part of the disciplinary process from the outset, the problems will remain.
In the meantime, a representative from the TEA has hit the road helping districts tweak their rules, Harris-Lawrence said. The task is daunting but welcome, she said.
"We're going to go to the entire state," Harris-Lawrence said. "We were so thrilled to have a vehicle ... for that discussion.
"We have legislative common sense."
