Zero Tolerance In Schools

Zero Tolerance at Schools By Elton Camp It began with a federal law about bringing guns to school That offenders must be expelled was the ironclad rule Then, unwisely, local officials the policy vastly expanded For drugs, aggression, and other things, expulsion demanded The intention behind these regulations may have been good School officials couldn’t be trusted to enforce as they should Because the regulations by modern Dracos had been written, Students, for childish behavior, with expulsion were smitten A six-year-old, happy at joining the cub scouts, ruined his life Because he brought to school camping stuff: spoon, fork, knife Because of his heinous crime, zero tolerance enforced the rule He got a suspension and spent forty-five days in reform school A retarded child for “strong-armed robbery” was arrested He stole two dollars and in adult jail for six weeks rested Only when a CBS “60 Minutes” crew came to report the case Were the ridiculous charges then dismissed with greatest haste What very desperately needs to be done, it seems to me, Is a zero tolerance policy for school officials’ stupidity