EXPULSION DECISION IS THE RIGHT CALL

The decision by a hearing officer to reject "zero tolerance"
expulsions for two Escambia County students was absolutely correct.

The students, enmeshed in a confusing series of events surrounding a
bag of pills found on the Pensacola High School campus, were facing a
penalty far beyond the seriousness of the matter.

Clearly, the School Board needs to take a long and serious look at its
zero tolerance policy with an eye to revising it with some
common-sense safeguards.

The hearing officer, local attorney John Allbritton, nailed the matter
in his written order:

"Expulsion is not justified in this case, and the penalty of 10 days'
suspension coupled with the mental anguish that student (Teresa) Elenz
has had to endure throughout this turmoil is more than
sufficient."

The problem with zero tolerance policies is that they paint with a
broad brush - and everyone is painted the same color. It leaves
precious little room for the exercise of judgment.

We understand the intent, which is to send an unambiguous message
that, in this case, drug abuse is a serious matter and students who
mess with drugs risk a serious penalty. Drug use is a serious problem
in schools, and officials are desperate for policies that help them
deal with it. They need policies that send the right message, and
don't require a serious diversion of time, money and effort from their
primary task - education.

But we are dealing with children, and we know that they can show
inexplicably bad judgment. And we know that not every drug case
involves the same level of seriousness.

The problem with painting all drug cases the same is that it makes it
difficult, at best, to bring judgment into the matter. And given the
potential impact on a student's future, that can be tragic.

In this case, by all accounts Teresa Elenz is a model student with an
unnlimited academic and career future ahead of her. But because of the
policy, she was immediately suspended and faced expulsion, with a
potentially drastic impact on her ability to go to the college of her
choice. This despite that police believed her story - that she found
the drugs and didn't know how to handle the matter - and declined to
prosecute.

No one wants to downplay the seriousness of student drug use and
possession. But with the potential for serious harm to a student's
academic and work careers on the line, we need a policy that allows
school officials to act as if it is possible that a student is
innocent before being punished. We also need a policy that understands
that some offenses are less serious than others.

In the adult world, we don't have the police act as judge and jury as
well. School drug policy could also benefit by allowing more room for
judgment.