Letter of the Week

I think that the idea of zero tolerance originally was well

intentioned. But I have four children, and we’ve been in the school

district for the last 20 years.

We personally know several people whose lives were altered very

negatively because of minor mistakes that were dealt with under the zero

tolerance -- such as one in which a young boy in elementary school forgot

he had his pocket knife in his pocket. Another student noticed it, told

the teacher and he was immediately expelled. There are many, similar

examples.

In the adult world, people are always given the opportunity to be

innocent until proven guilty. I don’t know what’s going on in our country

when we think children should be treated in such a severe manner in so

many ways and with so little love and compassion and appreciation,

especially when they become teenagers and they need all of those things

more than ever.

I think zero tolerance really just removes the responsibility from the

counselors, administrators and teachers who guide the children and make

sure that they are on the right path.

Yes, there are certain instances where a young person is flaunting the

rules, doing damage to himself and others and should be dealt with

strongly. But that student shouldn’t be dealt with in the same way as

some little child who forgets he has his pocket knife in his pocket.

There’s no gray shading. Everything’s just black or white, no in between.

I think the Bar Association is absolutely right to take this first

step to make a change here. It doesn’t mean we will say everything is OK

when you break the rules; it means we’ll give you a chance to explain

yourself and to involve the family.

With zero tolerance, sometimes the family doesn’t even know something

is going on, and suddenly their child is expelled, they have to find

transportation to another school, they loose their friends, they’re

ostracized, people don’t even know where they’ve gone because there’s

such negative implications associated with it. It just absolutely needs

to be changed.

Love is the answer here, and we need to handle our children and our

whole society with love.

Charmaine Laurie

Newport Beach