A DESERVED SETBACK FOR ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICIES

Our Views: A deserved setback for zero-tolerance excesses We applaud the
precedent-setting ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which
promises to bring some measure of sanity, and constitutionality, back to
schools' overreaching zero-tolerance policies.

In this important Powell High School case, the justices of the appellate
court found that the suspension of Dustin Seal in 1996 for having a hunting
knife in the glove compartment of his car was irrational and a violation of
his due process rights. Never mind that the knife had been placed there by
a friend without Mr. Seal's knowledge, the other facts still point to a
disciplinary overreach by people who should know better.

Should know better, but too often do not. Zero-tolerance policies have
produced rigidly ridiculous expulsions, such as the pre-menstrual freshman
student expelled elsewhere for carrying Tylenol in her purse, in alleged
violation of school "drug" policies.

The justices of the 6th U.S. Circuit have, we trust, taught local school
administrators something, where those administrators too often delivered
wrong-headed and costly lessons with their zero-tolerance silliness.