Texas moving away from zero tolerance
Parents weigh in on zero tolerance
Updated 03 May 2005: Zero Tolerance reform bill passes Texas House.
Updated 06 June 2005: Bill approved by State Sentate, now awaiting Governor’s signature.
Updated 24 June 2005: Perry signs bill into Texas law. Details at bottom of post.
Texas lawmakers are looking at revamping laws about school discipline. Concerned parents are taking opportunity of their willingness to listen.
Critics say this policy gives school districts the green light to impose strict, uniform penalties for misbehavior without considering extenuating circumstances such as the students’ intent to do harm or prior disciplinary records.
Fred Hink of Katy Zero Tolerance, a group dedicated to protecting parents’ rights in the discipline process, said these practices not only lack common sense, they do not appropriately address issues such as disability considerations, due process and the long-range effects of placing children in alternative education programs.
As usual, scholastic administrators are just as busy defending zt policy.
School officials insist that educators need the authority to take whatever disciplinary measures they deem necessary to regulate conduct and maintain a safe environment.
Fortunately, it looks like the legislators are listening to the parents.
Rep. Dora Olivo, D-Rosenberg, is leading efforts to reform the state’s discipline policy, hosting a summit on student disciplinary action at the state Capitol from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 28.
“This summit is an opportunity for parents to voice their concerns and work with us to ensure that their children and all children receive the quality education they deserve,” Olivo said. “The way the current system is set up, we are not helping kids. We are simply punishing them.”
…
State Sen. Jon Lindsay, R-Houston, said he has reintroduced a bill that passed in the Senate but failed in the House in 2003 to remove zero-tolerance policies from state law. The bill states students must be shown to knowingly and willingly commit an offense before they can be punished.
Now that’s what I like to see. Democrats and Republicans working together to make an actual positive difference. Best of luck to Olivo, Lindsay and their like company. I hope they can maintain their focus against the powerful lobbies arrayed against them.
(Tip credit to Brenda and The Precinct Chair
UPDATE 03 May 2005
Bill to modify zero tolerance passes
Bill 603 has been approved by the Texas House of Representatives. If it passes the Texas Senate it will become law.
If the bill becomes law, students still could face severe sanctions for serious offenses, such as bringing a weapon onto a campus or a school-sponsored activity off campus. But if the bill passes, administrators would be able to consider the student’s intent or lack of intent, disciplinary history, a disability that substantially impairs the student’s capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct and whether the action was done in self-defense.
“The whole intent is to rescue kids who were innocently caught up in a zero-tolerance tsunami,” Eissler said. “We needed to do something, and it keeps every case from coming to court.”
The bill is written in accordance with the Gun Free Schools Act so bringing any firearm onto school property will still result in an automatic expulsion regardless of mitigating circumstances. Regardless, it is a step in the right direction.
Each situation would be a case-by-case judgment call, and that would place more of a burden on administrators, according to Conroe Independent School District Superintendent Don Stockton.
“It will give us the chance to use judgment in unique situations while still maintaining safe schools,” Stockton said. “We’ve all heard of situations somewhere where, because of the law, we have to expel a student.”
Current state law in the Texas Education Code calls for mandatory expulsion if a student “uses, exhibits or possesses” a firearm, illegal knife, club or weapon listed as prohibited in the state Penal Code.
UPDATE 06 June 2005
Discipline bill on Perry’s desk
A bill that would give school officials more discretion in discipline matters by allowing them to evaluate individual circumstances before expelling students for certain infractions is awaiting Gov. Rick Perry’s approval.
…
If Perry signs Eissler’s bill, schools would have a clear option before punishing a student for misconduct to consider the intent or lack of intent to do harm; disciplinary history; any disability that would impair the student’s ability to understand the offense; and whether the act constitutes self-defense. The bill still complies with the 1994 Gun Free Schools Act, which demands automatic expulsion for students who bring firearms to a public school campus or function.
…
After receiving the bill on May 30, Perry has until June 19 to sign it, spokeswoman Kathy Walt said.“We need to review it to determine if it violates constitutional policy issues and whether it is appropriate for Texas,” Walt said.
(Tip credit to Rhymes With Right)
UPDATE 24 June 2005
Zero-tolerance gets another look
Some Texas schools are taking steps to relax their stances on zero-tolerance discipline to comply with a new law that allows for a range of options in punishing students who mistakenly bring prohibited weapons to school.
Terry Abbott, Houston Independent School District spokesman, said school officials would ask the school board at the next meeting to amend the Code of Student Conduct to reflect the recent change in state law.
Katy ISD, the subject of several high-profile disciplinary cases, has decided to integrate the statute into its discipline code for board adoption in 2005-06.
Thank you to the Texas Senate and House for passing this bill and to Governor Perry for signing it. It is not a full solution but it is a decent start on one.
Well we redneck Texans believe on “whuppin up on sum ‘un when it’s a needed.” But the whuppin’ needs to be warranted and the amount whuppin’ needs to be related to what caused it to be deserved.
This is a great step in the right direction and now administrators will actually have to THINK before they act.
Dave K, Arlington, TX
If you go to the katy zero tolerance website, you will read stories that will make you want to vomit. Kids’ lives destroyed because of immoral, gutless school administrators who could give a rat’s patoot about the kids who are forced to go to their lousy schools day in and day out. Kids sent to alternative schools who never recover from the inferior education and prison like surroundings and treatment. When Rod Paige was head honcho of Houston ISD, he made a deal with a company that specialized in “alternative” schools. Guess what? There had to be a certain amount of students assigned to these schools every year or the deal was off. What does that say?
I hope these legislators get an earful. I hope parents of students threatened with these policies tell the public schools to pound sand and find real educational “alternatives” for their kids.
ZT is good because it eliminates possibilities of discrimination, racism, favoritism, and gives the administrators support in difficult cases.
ZT is bad because it eliminates consideration of mitigating factors, other necessary circumstances.
Is there some middle ground? This could probably be argued forever. I don’t have an answer.
“The bill states students must be shown to knowingly and willingly commit an offense before they can be punished.” This may lead to lengthy court proceedings in every case, even when the offense is clear to most people. Bring in the lawyers!
ZT is good because it eliminates possibilities of discrimination, racism, favoritism, and gives the administrators support in difficult cases.
This is a very common reason for the implementation of ZT policies. It is also completely unfounded. Actual statistics from pre and post ZT districts show that minorities are hit hardest by zero tolerance, well out of proportion to their relative population.
The bill states students must be shown to knowingly and willingly commit an offense before they can be punished.” This may lead to lengthy court proceedings in every case, even when the offense is clear to most people. Bring in the lawyers!
Hey, the school districts brought it on themselves with their zero tolerance kangaroo courts. In the majority of cases, school officials already have their minds made up before they even go through the motions of a hearing. If lawyers are involved, and it takes forever, tough. Better that than have some kid’s life screwed up forever.
First… good for Texas for moving to get back to treating each person as an individual. I hope it passes. We seem to be heading back to some sense on this issue. The latest US Supreme Court decision on sentencing guidelines also indicates that is the way we are moving. Perhaps this web site will no longer be needed!
Uh…. sure……
Now about: “ZT is good because it eliminates possibilities of discrimination, racism, favoritism, and gives the administrators support in difficult cases.
This is a very common reason for the implementation of ZT policies. It is also completely unfounded. Actual statistics from pre and post ZT districts show that minorities are hit hardest by zero tolerance, well out of proportion to their relative population.”
Of course minorities are hit hardest by Zero tolerance! With such a high percentage of minorities in the lower socio-economic class, they don’t have the same cultural background as most school teachers and administrators (as well as the rest of society) and things schools find unacceptable are considered OK in their homes.
But how soon we forget that there has been real discrimination against minorities (of all ethnicities) and not all that so long ago. The fact is that if you are black, you will probably get a more severe punishment than a white child. It used to be that way and it stays that way. That is why zero tolerance was inplemented and while it is a dismal failure, as well as just plain wrong and stupid, it is appealing since administrators can say “well, it’s not my decision — board policy. Now excuse me I have a Klan meeting”. (Please excuse that last remark — it shows a lack of caring for administrators — and Klan members)
“Hey, the school districts brought it on themselves with their zero tolerance kangaroo courts. In the majority of cases, school officials already have their minds made up before they even go through the motions of a hearing. If lawyers are involved, and it takes forever, tough. Better that than have some kid’s life screwed up forever.”
How cynical. Most administrators don’t have “their mind made up”. But “No Child Left Behind” (thanks, Texas for this idiocy) is causing administrators to get rid of troublesome students because they test poorly and bring down the test scores.
One final comment .. or rather — a question. How do you expect us to help kids who do disruptive or violent things in school without removing them from school?
Uh. I thought so. You don’t know, do you?
barry
Imagine if our entire legal system was based on Zero Tolerance. Imagine if adults were subject to the same standard of “well, you thought/said it, therefore you meant it and are a dangerous criminal who needs to be removed from society.” Frightening.
Well, Barry, I guess you can put them in an alternative school with the kids who didn’t do anything violent or disruptive, because many of the kids who are affected by these stupid zero tolerance laws are honor roll students who have never been in trouble before. Don’t you find that strange? When newspapers report these incidents, they usually mention that fact.
Some people think zero tolerance has been implemented to level the playing field. “We’ll expel this white kid because he drew a picture of a gun, because we just expelled a black kid who punched out a teacher, and we want our statistics to show just how “fair” we are racewise.
There have been students who have walked out of their kangaroo court hearings muttering that school officials had already made up their minds even when a reasonable explanation for the incident was given by the student.
The system sucks, Barry.
Texas by no means is close to changing the insanity. Jon Lindsay has introduced SB 126 that would tighten up the burden of proof that an administrator needs to show to kick a kid off campus and put him/her into the criminal justice system. We think it has a 50/50 chance of passing. Dora Olivo on the house side will file something similar and again, 50/50 there as well.
Even if these pass, it is still an uphill struggle. School districts in Texas that employ a police force can use these forces without any check on their power. Administrators and superintendents continually find loopholes and use them to continue to throw the book at kids � whether guilty or not. A sideways glance, an anonymous tip on the school�s safety net program, or any other accusation can land a kid in a world of legal trouble and ruin their academic careers.
Even if these pass, parents won�t be notified of any pending disciplinary action until the administrators feel like it.
The parents of Texas are going to have to stand up and take on this cause. I have removed my children from public schools and won�t have to, God willing, face these problems again.
What people don�t understand is that public schools are an industry like anything else. The superintendents in these large districts earn more than $150,000 a year and every administrator under them owes their job to that superintendent. We have the state education agency teaching elected school board members, under mandated continuing education classes, that public schools have become too complex for them, so sit back and let the superintendent run the show. Keeping the lid on these schools and under control is all these superintendents want so they can milk the taxpayer for even more money and power. Zero tolerance gives them these tools. The kids are damned.
Well, at least these hearings will be publicized and parents can make their own decision as to whether they want their kids in public schools with these policies.
I bet anyone a million dollars that any kid who has gone through this crap will never in a million years put any future child of his in a Texas public school.
Zero Tolerance - Bloom is Off
Texas is finally taking a look at the “Zero Tolerance” policies that have swept through schools in the past decade. It’s about time….
I found this telling statement at http://www.local6.com/news/4130302/detail.html:
“When an adult or even myself look at the picture looked at it at first I was thinking there is really not much to the picture or I would not be that scared by the picture those children drew,” Ocala police spokesman Russ Kearn said. “However, we have to put ourselves in his mind and that’s the bottom line here.”
An old woman gave me a dirty look at the store last week. Can I have her arrested for assualt? I was really scared.
Whoops. I posted that last comment to the wrong thread. Sorry.
barry, what school do you teach at? i’d like to know so i can make certain i never send my kid there.
As long as schools are moe concerned with avoiding litigation than in actualy doing their jobs zero tolerance is here to stay. Well intentioned politcians (hows that for an oxymoron) notwithstanding.
Mike
“”The bill states students must be shown to knowingly and willingly commit an offense before they can be punished.” This may lead to lengthy court proceedings in every case, even when the offense is clear to most people. Bring in the lawyers!”
Yes. Bring in the lawyers. I wholeheartedly agree.
Lindsay’s legislation addresses only those disciplinary actions based on the Texas Penal Code — things like assaults, threats, murder, etc. Schools are ill-equipped to deal with the law. They don’t have the time, or the training, to analyze prior court cases, precedence, etc., to interpret and apply penal law.
“Mental culpability”, for example, is one of the most challenging aspects of judging criminal acts. So, how do administrators judge it? Well, with Zero Tolerance, they don’t! Think about it — most of the ZT stories we think are most ridiculous are the ones where a student possessed something unknowlingly, or acted without any harmful intent whatsoever, yet they’re still punished.
So, in my opinion, they shouldn’t be entrusted with it. Let school administrators deal with student disciplinary issues that involve disrupting the educational process (misbehavior in the classroom, bullying in the playground, etc.), but when it comes to criminal allegations — let that be addressed with the lawyers. That gives both parties — the administrators and the students — the best protection.
We here in Odessa have recently had an incident where 3 girls on a UIL trip out of town were punished with 18 days in the youth center for drinking. One of the girls at least is an Honors student. Not wanting to be a part of the population at the youth center opted to quit school , get a GED and go on with her education elsewhere. ECISD officials don’t hesitate to remind you that they are within the policy and laws to do this. What a shame.
All discrimination isn’t against minorities. Teachers and administrators are far too prone to play politics and assess excessive discipline for a student who doesn’t happen to be the child of one of their friends. The following true story:
A boy with the reputation of bullying younger, smaller students provoked a fight. The younger boy’s jaw was broken and the school called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. The laceration on the inside of his jaw had to be stitched, a titanium plate had to be permanently set into the jaw, and the jaw wired together for 6 weeks. The surgeon said it was the worst break he had ever seen. The boy who started the fight was suspended for half a day and was back in class before the smaller boy even went into surgery. Several months later the smaller boy (Boy A) got into an argument with another boy (Boy B) and it escalated to a fight. Boy B had a black eye and some scratches which did not require stitches. Boy A had deep scratches on his back. Boy B received no punishment. Boy A was sent to the Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program for 45 days. The principal said that was the maximum sentence he could assess but that he really didn’t want boy A back in the school. Boy A had never before been cited for a disciplinary problem. However, Boy B’s mother is a friend of the Assistant Principal. Both students are white. The school has no written policy concerning discipline. In fact, students caught using drugs on school property are given lighter sentences than Boy A. There is no record that any other student has ever been sent to JJAEP by that school district.
My name is Austin Hamilton. I have been doing a report for my college class, comp 2. I have seen both sides of the story, being i’ve studied it for 2 months. I see how zt can help the lives of those that dont act out of place or involve themselves with the “out group”. Ive also seen first hand what zt does for a kid caught in the wrong place. My best friend was just in the wrong place in the wrong time, now he is expelled. Many of us have been caught in these situations where we cant live them down or get out of. Do we second guess ourselves on the “truth”? No, of course not, so why should we ruin a life so early. If he tried to go to another school, that school would see his transcript and immediately reject him. A job interview, we’ve all had plenty of them, were would you be if you had a expulsion on it(not very far). Granted their are kids out their that are knowing and willingly making bad judgments on their own. Those kids do need help(im sure we all agree on that). If we release them into society what job did we just do for ourselves? Now they have noone to tell them what is right from wrong, to help them, to let them know that their may be a person out their that does care for them. Our duty as a school or communitty is too help kids not reject. If we dont it will come back and bite us, as it always has and will. Think of this…your child, wrong place, wrong time, you cant help him, your words are useless under zt.
Schools number 1 priority: Prepare kids for the real world.
ZT does not help kids be prepared for the real world. The real world operates on burden of proof, intent, and the whole petty due process thingy that they mention in that piece of paper called the bill of rights.
How do you justify, knowing the number 1 priority, ruining a couple kids lives? Sure you could claim “Oh, school shootings are down,” course lets not forget that before and after Columbine school shooting rates were the same. So how can you justify this? You cannot cause undue pain to lab animals due to ethics laws, yet you can completely ruin a child’s future without letting them defend themselves?
Thank god I live in Texas, though this bill really doesn’t matter ’cause I live in East Texas. Down here we don’t give a shit about ZT laws, we’ll punish as we see fit. Oh we got ‘em, but I’ve never seen the ZT punishments executed and enforced.
Around the Blogosphere
John Bolton (…once gave me a dirty look!!) Powerline Roger Simon’s Pajama Party Michelle Malkin, Outside the Beltway, Ace of…
Everyone needs to email Governor Perry urging him to sign HB603. Texas children need protection from zero tolerance zealots.
(http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact) Please make sure you specify House Bill 603.
www.KatyZeroTolerance.com
There’s just one phrase in this bill that I am dubious about, “a disability that substantially impairs the student’s capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the conduct”.
That’s fine if you are talking about minor rule violations, but I’ve seen a special ed student get away with setting a gym locker on fire “because he’s disabled.” If the kid is mentally unable to follow safety-critical rules, he doesn’t belong in a school designed for normal kids.
There’s a direct analog to that phrase in criminal law - the insanity defense. But we don’t turn criminally insane adults loose on society just because they don’t understand that what they did was wrong.
I note that at the same time, a bill - with backing from [some] school systems - was introduced making a single day of truancy into a Class C case, rather than ten such days. The military does not go so far! What are these people smoking and/or drinking?
Texas lawmakers modify zero tolerance
Good news for a change: a bill awaiting the signature of Texas Gov. Rick Perry would restore some discretion to school boards, reducing the chances that students will be expelled over inadvertent violations of zero…
It’s past June 19th. Anyone know what happened to this bill?
HB 603 is now law. Because the bill passed both Houses of the Legislature unanimously, it became law immediately after the Governor signed it last week.
The law addresses concerns regarding the “zero tolerance” policy in school districts. The law requires that a school district’s student code of conduct specify whether consideration is given as a factor in a decision to: order suspension, removal to a disciplinary alternative education program, or expulsion, to self-defense; intent or lack of intent at the time the student engaged in the conduct; a student’s disciplinary history; or a disability that substantially impairs the student’s capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the student’s conduct. The law also does not require a student code of conduct to specify a minimum term of a removal or an expulsion.
We set about to untie the hands of school districts – which many administrators would state in defense of their heartless actions that their hands are tied because of state law. Well, their hands are now untied. If you want to insure that your district does take into account these considerations, it is up to you to contact your individual districts and demand that they incorporate these considerations into the discipline policies.
Barry,
We are already at “zero tolerence” for adults. If you don’t believe me get pulled over and blow a.07 BAC with .08 being the legal limit and see if the officer just sends you on your way. Our entire legal system is heading towards ZT it is starting in the schools so that our children won’t notice anything out of the ordinary when they become adults.
Get your heads out of the sand and accept that your children may not be perfect! Many of the parents caught up in the legal battle over KISD’s ZT policies need to take a good look at what their “honor roll”, “cheerleader”, “Honor Society” kids are really doing for fun! The problem many of these parents have is that their babies got caught and had to face the consequences, something perhaps their parents have never made them do. It embarrasses these parents and they are willing to beleive whatever the child tells them. I’m not saying that some are not justified in this battle, but I have been in positions to hear some of these kids talk among themselves and they are not the perfect children their parents beleive them to be. Many of these parents would be better off putting their time and effort into paying attention to what their kid is doing, asking questions, and getting to know his or her friends, dropping in on a few of the parties their child attends, looking at e-mails and on-line chat their kid posts, rather than fighting the school district for punishing their perfect child. Wanting to defend your child is natural, not allowing them to accept responsibility for their actions is ignorant.
ive been through one of the crappy cases and all i have to say is its about time that the administrators of our schools have to finally take some form of responsibility for their actions instead of blaming it on a law its all bull.
Just found this website today, I had the school suspend my 12 year old, for being approached by another student to ASK why his “battery bomb” wasn’t wired properly, my son told him the poles are where the power is, then told them not to do it. The other kid had a AA battery and a paperclip but because they called it a “BOMB” it sent the school into a tizzy..come one..a AA battery and a paperclip is a bomb? I spoke to the principal this morning and got my kid out of ISS and said sorry, his punishment does NOT fit the crime and he had no knowledge of any “intent to injure” and the school had tried to say he told kids what to bring and planned the event..NOT TRUE..I let him pay a partial price 1/2 day suspension and 1 day in ISS..then I said ENOUGH..he wasn’t involved..
I was wondering what kind of punishment warrants to be expelled for a few days from school? This girl has been bullying my daughter for three years , making her life hell. The last event she drew some pictures of my daughter being strangled,shot,blown up and stabbed? where does zero tolerance step in on this case ? This girl got 2 hours of ISS for this and I do not believe it was enough punishment.
I say bring back the paddle. Spare the rod, spoil the child. Respect and fear have a lot in common. All decisions have consequences. Sometimes kids need a deterrent to make the right choice.