Would anyone care to guess how many good kids have been turned into
future
criminals by the uncaring, stupid system, run by idiots (at least in
many
schools)? Mess up the life of a bright kid with such nonsense and reap
the
consequences in 5, 10 or 15 years is what I think will happen.

Tony

——- Forwarded message follows ——-

WASHINGTON, DC — Three cheers for the American Bar Association’s
decision to oppose zero tolerance policies which allow kids to be kicked
out
of
school for possession of “drugs” like lemon drops and Kool-Aid, and for
“weapons” like fingers and rubber bands, the Libertarian Party said
today.

“Finally, some sanity about America’s zero tolerance nonsense,”
said Steve Dasbach, the party’s national director. “In a country where
students
can be expelled for sniffing Kool-Aid, for sharing candy, and for
brandishing

potato chip canisters, the American Bar Association has interjected a
note of
common sense.”

On Monday, the leadership of the ABA voted to recommend an end to
zero-tolerance policies in the nation’s 14,000 school districts.
The 400,000-member lawyer’s organization, which held its winter
meeting in San Diego, said such policies are a misguided
“one-size-fits-all solution to all the problems schools confront” and
have “redefined students as criminals.”

Zero tolerance policies — many mandated by state law after the
tragic school shootings in Columbine, Colorado — require
government-run
schools to expel or suspend students for any violation of weapons or
drugs regulations.

Such policies have led to bizarre results, including:

* A 6-year-old in Colorado was suspended for violating the
school’s anti-drug policy after a teacher saw him share a lemon drop
candy with a friend. The school also called an ambulance for the
lemon-drop-eating friend.

* In New Jersey, a 9-year-old was suspended — and forced to
undergo psychiatric counseling — for threatening to shoot a classmate
with a rubber band.

* A 10-year-old in Colorado was expelled because her mother put
a small knife in her lunchbox to cut an apple. When the girl realized
the knife could violate the school’s anti-weapons policy, she turned it
over to
a teacher. The school then expelled the girl.

* Three grammar school students in Colorado were suspended for
possessing a weapon — a water pistol.

* A 13-year-old in Arizona, inspired by the movie October Sky,
built a rocket — fueled by three match heads — out of a Pringles
potato chip canister. When he brought the potato chip canister to
school he was
suspended for a year for having a “weapon.” The school also reported
him to the
police.

* In Michigan, a third-grader was suspended for showing his
classmates a gun-shaped medallion, slightly larger than a char for a
necklace. He had found the piece of jewelry in a snowbank. “State law
requires us to take action even though it was a toy,” said a school
administrator.

* A school in New Jersey suspended two kindergarten students for
playing “cops and robbers” on the playground. They had pointed their
fingers at each other like guns and shouted, “Bang bang!”

* In Maryland, a school suspended a 9-year-old after he drew a
picture of a gun on a piece of paper.

* In Virginia, eight students were suspended for one week after
they were caught sniffing Kool-Aid. They were charged with “possession
of contraband” because they were “using Kool-Aid in a way that imitated
the use
of illegal drugs,” school officials said.

Given such ridiculous results, zero tolerance policies are
clearly ineffective, said Dasbach. “Expelling children for possession of
a rubber band, a water pistol, or a finger doesn’t keep anyone safe,” he
said. “Schools don’t seem to recognize that there is a difference
between a
psychotic student with a semi-automatic weapon and a 6-year-old with a
rubber
band.

“And to the degree that these policies force school officials to
pay attention to such trivial transgressions while ignoring real
potential dangers, students may actually be less safe. That’s bad
news for parents whose children are trapped in government schools.”

At their worst, the kind of zero tolerance policies opposed by
the American Bar Association send a chilling message to children, said
Dasbach. “These policies teach children that justice is inflexible, and
doesn’t care about circumstances, or fairness, or good sense,” he said.
“And they teach children that they have no rights — that they are
criminals if
they play innocent childhood games, say the wrong thing, or share a
lemon drop
candy with a friend.”<br clear=all>

---

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