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August 10, 2006
Can school districts tolerate "zero tolerance" policies?Is bringing an aspirin to school the same as bringing crack? A plastic knife the same as an Uzi? Zero tolerance policies would have us believing so. But how far is too far to go in the effort to keep students safe at school?
A new resolution from the American Psychological Association released yesterday says that zero tolerance policies are backfiring and "are not as successful as thought in creating safer environments to learn. These policies, which mandate that schools severely punish disruptive students regardless of the infraction or its rationale, can actually increase bad behavior and also lead to higher drop out rates."
An article in USA Today notes that "Kids feel less safe and perform worse academically in schools with high suspension rates," and "students' higher suspension rates predict higher rates of future misbehavior and school failure."
Tom Hutton, staff attorney for NSBA, weighed in on the subject, noting that NSBA has urged local school baords to give administrators more discretion, but noted that, "school boards have to deal with community feelings too. Boards hear complaints about 'more sensitivity training' and people sometimes ask 'Why are they doing all this warm, fuzzy stuff?'"
For more information about "zero tolerance" and policies on school safety, check out the 2006 CUBE Issues Seminar, Legal Issues Related to Developing School Board Policies to Support Safe Schools.
Posted August 10, 2006 12:39 PM | School Safety
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