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Case of the Month Overview
Zero Tolerance Policies in the Wake of Columbine
Students unfortunately have been caught in the middle of the fallout from tragedies that occurred in Littleton, Colorado, Arkansas and a number of other communities, losing their constitutional rights because of America's fear that school violence is on the rise. In the study School House Hype: Two Years Later
released jointly last year by the Justice Policy Institute and the Children's Law Center, researchers found that the number of school-associated violent deaths is decreasing, yet Americans' fears about school violence continues to increase. Here are some figures from the report:
- School-associated violent deaths decreased 40% from 1998 to 1999, from 43 down to 26 in a population of 52 million
- American students. In 1999, there was a one in 2 million chance of being killed in one of America's schools.
- Despite the declines in violence, seven out of ten Americans in recent surveys said they believed that a shooting was likely in their school, and Americans were 49% more likely to express fears of their schools in 1999 than in 1998.
Perhaps the most easily recognizable of constitutional violations in the post-Columbine world are the crackdowns on student speech. Although the Supreme Court found in Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent School Dist., 393 U.S. 503 (1969), that public school students do not "shed their constitutional rights at the school house gate," Zero Tolerance policies can turn rightful expression into wrongful expulsion. Student expression can take many forms ? from clothing and poetry to classwork and web design ? and almost all of these forms of expression have been the targets of Zero Tolerance Policies. In order for school administrators to justify the disciplinary action, they must establish ? as held in Tinker ? that the alleged disruption "materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others."
Here are some examples from around the country of student expression being thwarted by Zero Tolerance policies:
- In Salt Lake City, a federal judge upheld the suspension of a student for wearing a T-shirt that said " Vegan" under a policy that banned gang- related clothing. Vegan is a term used to describe a diet free of animal products.
- In South Carolina, a student was suspended for creating a web site that was critical of the ROTC unit and contained the statement "They can all eat feces and die!"
- In Rhode Island, an 11th grade honor student was suspended indefinitely based solely on the content of an extra-credit writing assignment for his English honors class.
- In Kansas, a student was expelled for displaying artwork that was deemed "threatening."
- In Boston, another student was suspended for writing a horror story for an assignment in his English class.
- In Arkansas, a student was expelled for a private writing that was deemed a "terroristic threat".
Locally, the ACLU of Florida has received an increasing number of complaints from students who have faced suspension or expulsion for merely exercising their right to free speech. In April, a student was suspended and assigned to an alternative school because he illustrated a poem critical of a faculty member on a website from home. Another student was threatened with expulsion for creating a web site at home that criticized students and faculty members. In both of these cases, the ACLU of Florida was able to step in and negotiate with school officials to avoid egregious disciplinary actions. Many students, though, aren't as lucky, and end up with suspensions on their permanent records. In more serious cases, they can end up in alternative schools or permanently expelled from the public school system.
Aside from targeting speech, school officials also have made irrational interpretations of what constitutes a weapon under school policies, even when all involved concede the student intended no harm. Perhaps the most glaring example of this is 11-year-old Ashley Smith, who was suspended in Cobb County, Georgia for 10 days for possessing a small chain that attached her Tweety Bird key ring to her Tweety Bird wallet. Rather than confiscating the chain wallet, school officials chose to suspend Ashley. (In most circumstances, school officials consider suspension an extreme form of punishment and it is generally used only as a last resort.) In another case, Lindsey Brown, a senior honors student in Florida, parked in the wrong space in the student parking lot. A school security guard who approached the car to check if it was illegally parked noticed a kitchen knife in the front seat. Lindsey told school officials that her family was moving over the weekend and that the knife must have fallen out of a moving box. She was immediately suspended pending expulsion, and forbidden to attend her graduation ceremony and other graduation events. The recipient of a college scholarship that depended on maintaining a clean student record, Lindsey was sure her future college career was in jeopardy. Mounting media pressure convinced school officials to eventually reduce her punishment to a five-day suspension, but she was still unable to attend her graduation. Cases like Lindsey's show just how severely Zero Tolerance policies can impact students.
Here are other examples of troubling Zero Tolerance cases from around the country:
- A 14-year-old girl in Harrisburg, PA was strip searched for saying she understood how kids might snap if they were teased endlessly.
- Eleven students in Ohio were suspended for contributing to a gothic-themed website.
- A 12-year-old in Ponchatoula, LA, was locked up in juvenile detention for two weeks for making " terroristic threats" when he told 9th graders in the cafeteria line that he would "get them" if they didn't leave enough potatoes for him.
- A 13-year-old Albuquerque student was suspended when on a field trip to the Atomic Museum he said, " When we get there are they going to teach us how to build a bomb?"
- One student wearing all black was questioned about his chemistry book when an administrator mistook it for a weapons manual.
- A 9-year-old in Ohio was suspended for writing "You will die an honorable death" as a fortune cookie message in a class project on diversity and Asian culture.
While most of the well-publicized incidents of school violence affected students in white, upper-middle class communities, Zero Tolerance polices are more likely to exist in predominantly Black and Latino school districts, according to a recent study by the Harvard University Civil Rights Project called Opportunities Suspended: The Devastating Consequences of Zero Tolerance and School Discipline Policies
Study authors, which include staff members of the Advancement Project, wrote that: "During the 1996-1997 school year, these districts were more likely to have policies addressing violence (85%), firearms (97%), other weapons (94%), and drugs (92%) than white school districts. " In addition, they conclude that the disparity in adoption rates of these Zero Tolerance Policies also is reflected in the disciplinary actions taken by principals across the nation. Researchers cited South Carolina as an example: "while black children represent only 42 percent of public school enrollment, they constitute 61 percent of the children charged with a disciplinary code violation. "
Locally, four middle schools in Miami-Dade County were examined as part of the Harvard study to determine how the principals' philosophies regarding discipline affected suspension rates. Generally, most schools are subject to district-wide disciplinary codes. However, the "philosophy of the principal in many instances determines how these policies are actually applied." Strict principals with the Zero Tolerance approach may utilize their powers to suspend or expel students at a far higher rate than principals who choose traditional methods of ensuring discipline on school grounds, like parent-teacher meetings in the principal's office, counseling programs with teachers and students or in-school suspensions. But, "strict discipline and harsh punishments do not necessarily translate into effective discipline," according to the Harvard University study.
Since there are dramatic variations in the application of Zero Tolerance policies among principals, it's important for parents to educate themselves about the educational approach used by the principal at their child's school. They also should contact their local school boards to obtain copies of the student Code of Conduct that pertains to their child's school district. It is similarly important for students to know their rights since the Constitution and Bill of Rights protect the rights of students as well as those of adults. (Check out the ACLU's Sybil Liberties briefing papers on a variety of subjects
