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Drop That Spork! 'Zero Tolerance' Goes to Richmond
Bradley Marrs realized the folly of "zero tolerance" when a boy at his children's middle school was suspended after being caught with a plastic knife that his mother -- a teacher! -- had packed with the cake he brought to school to celebrate his birthday.
Dwight Jones grew angry about zero tolerance when he saw children caught in possession of over-the-counter medications -- with their parents' permission -- "being treated as if they were carrying a gun."
Marrs and Jones have the advantage of being able to do something about the blind, unthinking punishment of children who pull pranks, mistakenly bring a nail clipper to school or try to protect themselves when assaulted. Marrs and Jones, members of Virginia's House of Delegates, last week tried to persuade fellow lawmakers to add a smidgen of sense to zero tolerance laws.
School systems "have basically outlawed everything," said Marrs, a Republican from Richmond. He told the House Education Committee of a high school boy -- an honor student -- who was suspended for five days for fighting off an attacker. "He did nothing wrong, and he got suspended," Marrs said.
Marrs sought no revolution; he proposed only that exceptions to the zero tolerance rule be carved out for students who defend themselves, children caught possessing a plastic cafeteria utensil without threatening or attacking others and students who possess a nonprescription medication with a parent's permission. "On any given day, any number of teenage girls are walking around with a Midol in their pocketbook," Marrs said. A crime worthy of expulsion?
But a procession of lobbyists representing principals and school boards defended zero tolerance as our last line of defense against terrible children eager to turn schools into war zones. A member of the Henrico County School Board, desperate to save a system that teaches children the opposite of discretion, even played the terrorism card, arguing to lawmakers that plastic utensils are a primo tool for budding hijackers.
Marrs's bill died in a 13 to 8 vote.
Drop That Spork! 'Zero Tolerance' Goes to Richmond
Bradley Marrs realized the folly of "zero tolerance" when a boy at his children's middle school was suspended after being caught with a plastic knife that his mother -- a teacher! -- had packed with the cake he brought to school to celebrate his birthday.
Dwight Jones grew angry about zero tolerance when he saw children caught in possession of over-the-counter medications -- with their parents' permission -- "being treated as if they were carrying a gun."
Marrs and Jones have the advantage of being able to do something about the blind, unthinking punishment of children who pull pranks, mistakenly bring a nail clipper to school or try to protect themselves when assaulted. Marrs and Jones, members of Virginia's House of Delegates, last week tried to persuade fellow lawmakers to add a smidgen of sense to zero tolerance laws.
School systems "have basically outlawed everything," said Marrs, a Republican from Richmond. He told the House Education Committee of a high school boy -- an honor student -- who was suspended for five days for fighting off an attacker. "He did nothing wrong, and he got suspended," Marrs said.
Marrs sought no revolution; he proposed only that exceptions to the zero tolerance rule be carved out for students who defend themselves, children caught possessing a plastic cafeteria utensil without threatening or attacking others and students who possess a nonprescription medication with a parent's permission. "On any given day, any number of teenage girls are walking around with a Midol in their pocketbook," Marrs said. A crime worthy of expulsion?
But a procession of lobbyists representing principals and school boards defended zero tolerance as our last line of defense against terrible children eager to turn schools into war zones. A member of the Henrico County School Board, desperate to save a system that teaches children the opposite of discretion, even played the terrorism card, arguing to lawmakers that plastic utensils are a primo tool for budding hijackers.
Marrs's bill died in a 13 to 8 vote.
