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Highlands Today

Making 'zero-tolerance' discipline tolerable

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By MARC VALERO

Highlands Today

Published: October 23, 2009

SEBRING - Criticized for requiring strict punishment for even minor infractions, Florida's "zero-tolerance" school discipline policy is being updated according to a new law, which calls for discretion by school officials when applying the law.

Since going into effect in Florida in 2001, "zero-tolerance" has led to a number of examples of students facing harsh consequences for petty incidents, including:

• An 11-year-old Hernando County girl arrested for possessing a plastic butter knife.

• A 13-year-old arrested at a Stuart school for passing gas and turning off computers.

• A 15-year-old Volusia County girl arrested after she left a penknife attached to her belt loop, a knife she used to cut the twine on a hay bale for her horses.

According to the Florida NAACP, "zero-tolerance" school discipline has resulted in the over-use of out-of-school suspensions, expulsions and arrests of students and has become a major problem in Florida.

The organization states that in the 2007-2008 school year, there were over 21,000 students arrested in Florida K-12 schools. Almost 15,000 of the arrests - or 69 percent - were for misdemeanor offenses.

Senate Bill 1540, passed by the 2009 Legislature and signed by Gov. Crist in May, encourages alternatives to expulsion or referral to law enforcement and calls for clarifying that zero-tolerance policies should not be automatically imposed for minor acts of misconduct.

Lake Placid Middle School Principal Derrel Bryan said Thursday that strict adherence to zero-tolerance was needed at one time.

"In the early '90s, when we began to see a lot of violence in schools, we reacted with the zero-tolerance and at that point in time I think it sent a clear message about the fact that we could not have violence in school," he said.

However, in today's environment, common sense should be used when deciding if a student needs to be arrested, Bryan said. The consequences need to be consistent with what the student does.

Zero-tolerance is not the answer to everything that happens on a school campus, he noted.

"As long as I have been in Highlands County that's pretty much has been the philosophy of the principals here - that we don't automatically arrest a kid or bounce a kid from school for breaking a rule," Bryan said.

Students will be arrested from time to time because criminal behavior won't be tolerated in school, he said. There is a need, especially with weapons, to have a zero-tolerance attitude.

The zero-tolerance rule has been applied at his school, Bryan said.

"In some cases with weapons," he said. "We are not going to put up with knives and guns and those things that could really, really be harmful to other students."

The final draft of the interpretation of the updated law is being routed within the Florida Department of Education for approval, Brooks Rumenik, FDOE director of the Office of Safe Schools, said Wednesday.

The new guidelines will be relayed to school districts soon, she said.

According to the original zero-tolerance policy, students who bring a firearm or weapon to school, a school function or onto a school bus are to be expelled from school, with or without continuing educational services, for a minimum of one year.

The same zero-tolerance consequences occur in instances where a student makes a threat or false report involving school or school personnel's property, school transportation or a school-sponsored activity.

Also, the cases are to be referred to the criminal justice or juvenile justice system.

Highlands Today reporter Marc Valero can be reached at 863-386-5826 or mvalero@highlandstoday.com

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