Florida governor Charles Crist has signed SB 1540, a bill that “requires school boards to revisit their zero-tolerance policies” and is aimed at [Tallahassee Democrat:]
reducing the number of juveniles who are needlessly thrust into the system because of minor infractions — most commonly, petty disobedience.
Consider cases from several headlines: In March, a Lakeland boy was suspended from school for intentionally passing gas on a school bus. In Hernando County, an 11-year-old girl was suspended for bringing a plastic butter knife to school. A student in Brandon was suspended because a calculator he brought to school was equipped with a “knife-like object.”
Ken at Popehat has more discussion, and links to our zero-tolerance archive.
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I, at first, thought Zero Tolerance was a good thing. Lets teach those little SH@ts a lesson. But now, I realize that the school districts are just using it as a means of forcing someone else to deal with a problem they themselves dont want to or are afraid of. Applying a zero tolerance policy to a minor infraction could really change that child’s (and parents) life for the worse.
Zero Tolerance = Zero Brains.
It is difficult to instill respect for authority in children, when the Authorities demonstrate that they are unworthy of any respect.
As a Floridian, I can only say “Wow! Charlie Crist is actually doing something useful!”
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