Introduction_ Zero Tolerance Policies

Issue and Question

“Zero Tolerance” is the term used to describe certain categories of school policies designed to increase safety and provide consistency in school discipline practices. The policies generally provide a prescribed consequence (i.e. suspension or expulsion) for a certain types of misbehaviors without regard to the circumstances surrounding the behavior.  A central element of zero tolerance policies is their reliance on school exclusion as the primary means of enforcing desired behaviors and deterring the undesired ones.

            In the nearly twenty years since the passage of Guns Free Act, zero tolerance policies have been the subject of great controversy with the vast majority of material being critical, or at least cautionary, about such practices.  In determining the effectiveness of zero tolerance policies, many questions should be considered.  Does the school system have an obligation to provide a basic education to all students?  What happens to students as a consequence of them being excluded from the education system?  Do zero tolerance policies provide an effective deterrent?  Do such policies disproportionally affect students of color? How do such policies mesh with other school practices and procedures?  Should zero tolerance be reconsidered?  What sorts of approaches to zero tolerance policies can be implemented to improve the effectiveness of the policies while minimizing the controversial impacts.

Relevance of the Topic

In recent years, the debate surrounding the value of zero tolerance policies has intensified as incidents of school violence have been an increasing subject of media attention. For me personally, the topic of zero tolerance policies has recently become a subject of interest a few months ago when a student in my band class brought a knife to a weekend parade, flashed it at another student, and in accordance with district policy was kicked out of school for the rest of the year as a result.

According to a 2009 Safety with Dignity Report published by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Annenburg Institute for School Reform and Make the Road New York, between 79 and 94% of American Public Schools have some sort of zero tolerance policy. A zero tolerance policy can be summarized as a blanket policy or rule for reacting to an infraction without regard to extenuating circumstances surrounding the rule breakage. An example of this would be a school policy to automatically suspend a student for bringing a weapon or drug paraphernalia to school.

What happens to students who are disciplined in accordance with zero tolerance policies? Are zero tolerance policies an effective way of educating and rehabilitating offenders or are they are some suggest pathways to the criminal justice system. Have schools become more safe as a result of the spread of zero tolerance programs? Are zero tolerance programs more effective than giving more latitude to educators and administrators in exercising judgment in school discipline?

Nature of the Controversy    

Zero tolerance policies have been a subject of great controversy since their codification into law in the mid 1990’s.  A major criticism of zero tolerance policies is their heavy dependence on suspension and expulsion as the center piece of the get touch approach to school discipline.  Available research demonstrates a high correlation between school suspension and student’s eventually dropping out of school. The implications to society of an increasing many students being suspended and expelled and eventually dropping out poses broader questions for society as to what to do with an uneducated and unemployable population of individuals living amongst us and the consequences on the criminal justice system of an education system that arguably

            There have also been many studies done that have demonstrated that school discipline in general, particularly disciplinary approaches utilizing exclusion, have a an disproportionate impact on student’s of color who are far more often the subjects of such disciplinary actions, and are generally subjected to them more often and for lesser offenses than their white counterparts.

Another controversy connected with zero tolerance policies are the legal implications of balancing requirements contained in zero tolerance policies against other legislation protecting certain populations of students – i.e. special education students from school practices that would exclude them. This particular controversy raises the additional question of how many students who because they were not properly evaluated for special education services may have been illegitimately subjected to zero tolerance policies when other means of intervention might have been available had a proper special education referral and evaluation  been conducted.