SCHOOLS HAVE LATITUDE IN DEALING WITH ZERO-TOLERANCE OFFENSES

KINGSPORT - It has been 10 years since zero-tolerance policies swept the
country, mandating a year's expulsion for any student who brought a firearm
to school.

Since then, the policies have broadened to include weapons of all kinds,
drugs and assaults against staff members. But that isn't the only change
this once one-size-fits-all approach to discipline has undergone.

You may think, for example, that zero tolerance and expulsion go hand in
hand. And they could. But they don't have to, and more often than not, they
don't.

"I think when the law first went into effect, that was the interpretation
of the law. Now that the law has been there for several years, they've
given superintendents the authority to modify (the length of the suspension
or expulsion)," said Tyler Fleming, director of students services for
Kingsport City Schools.

The change gives school systems more flexibility to deal with issues on a
case-by-case basis.

"Superintendents have been very good at looking at it situation by
situation because they're not all the same. It's not as cut and dried as it
sounds," Fleming said.

Take the 78 zero-tolerance offenses that occurred in Kingsport City and
Sullivan County schools, for example. Only seven resulted in the maximum
year's expulsion.

Cases involving drugs, the most common offense for both school systems,
vary greatly and have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, the school
officials said.

"In drug cases where it's experimental and they're not selling it, and
depending on what the drug is, what we try to do is do some education and
not invoke the total year's expulsion," said Sullivan County Director of
Schools Glenn Arwood.

"If they bring a weapon, they're out a year. If they assault a teacher,
they're out," he added.

That's not to say, Arwood and Fleming said, that drug offenses aren't taken
seriously. They are.

"Depending on the situation surrounding the drug case, students may be out
a year for that too," Arwood said. "But the weapon, there's no doubt about
that. You bring a gun to school, you're out a year."

There are three general categories of zero-tolerance offenses - drugs,
weapons and assault of a school staff member - defined in Tennessee Code
(49-6-4216).

"A lot of people don't realize it, but it's a state law," Arwood said.

The intent of the law, spelled out in Tennessee Code, is to send a clear
message that "any rule or policy designated as a zero-tolerance policy
means that violations of that rule or policy will not be tolerated, and
that violators will receive certain, swift, and reasoned punishment."

The penalty for a zero-tolerance offense is suspension or expulsion for up
to a calendar year.

"It is not our intent to say we're going to disrupt your educational
process. It's not our intent to take your right to have an education away
from you," Arwood said.

The goal, Fleming stressed, is to make the school environment safe for
everybody else.

There were 57 zero-tolerance offenses committed in Sullivan County's 29
schools during the 2003-2004 school year. Of those, 53 were drugs. There
were three weapons offenses (one gun and two knives) and one assault
against a staff member.

The majority of drug cases involved prescription drugs and were pretty
evenly divided between the middle schools (25) and high schools (28). The
gun case occurred at a high school, and there was no ammunition involved.

Kingsport City Schools had 21 zero-tolerance cases during the 2003-2004
school year.

"We saw only drug incidents last year. We were fortunate in the other
areas," Fleming said.

Like in the county schools, the drug cases were fairly evenly split between
the system's two middle schools (9) and its high school (12) - a disturbing
trend for Arwood and other educators.

"I think it is moving in that direction [toward the middle schools], but
I've not seen a rapid shift," Arwood said.

"But it gets discouraging because most systems work hard with the DARE and
DREAM programs to educate our young people. We put a lot of effort into it
and it makes us wonder what else we can do," he said.

It's never too early, Arwood said, for parents to talk to their children
about drugs and the dangers associated with them.

"It's a very serious situation. Some drugs are unforgiving. Children can
really mess themselves up. They can hurt themselves or even lose their
lives," Arwood said.

When a zero-tolerance offense occurs - be it on school grounds, a school
trip or even on the school bus - the school will complete an investigation
during which time the student is usually suspended on a temporary basis.

School officials also contact either the police or sheriff's department or
the school resource officer to report the incident.

Schools do not, however, wait for the outcome of the law enforcement's
investigation to enforce their zero-tolerance policy.

"We have a great relationship with juvenile court, but they're bound by
certain laws and guidelines we're not bound by and vice versa," Fleming said.

"We don't wait for the courts to act before we make our decision unless
there's some reason to wait," he said.

Students suspended on a zero-tolerance offense appear before a student
disciplinary authority or discipline hearing authority - usually made up of
at least three adults in the school system.

"The reasoning for that is to make sure the investigation was done
properly," Fleming said.

The committee makes a recommendation for discipline to the superintendent,
who has the authority to modify the length of the suspension or expulsion
on a case-by-case basis.

"I wouldn't say there's been any leniency at younger grades because it has
just really depended on the situation more than anything else," Fleming said.

Special education students are handled somewhat differently.

"The law says we can do the expulsions, but we have to provide them an
educational opportunity," Arwood said.

For other students who commit a zero-tolerance offense, the options may be
more limited. Those options may include an alternative school, if the
system offers one; private school or home schooling.

"All school systems are trying their best to provide an education for these
students in some way, but in a more controlled environment than the typical
school setting," Fleming said.

An option they don't have, Arwood and Fleming stressed, is a neighboring
school system.

"We will not take anybody who is out of another school on zero tolerance,"
Arwood said.

"A student that was suspended at Sullivan South, for instance, couldn't
come to Dobyns-Bennett and enroll," Fleming said.

Students and parents are made aware of zero-tolerance offenses and the
discipline they warrant in the student handbooks distributed at the start
of every school year in both systems.