STUDENTS WIN TOLERANCE RULING

Judge Gives Schools Options of Alternative Education or Review

Knox County Schools officials could admit all students expelled under the
school system's zero-tolerance policy to an alternative education program,
a judge ruled Tuesday.

The other choice the judge offered is for the school system to revamp its
review process.

Under that option, the school system would have to establish clear
standards for admitting or not admitting policy offenders to alternative
programs. Officials would also have to provide reasons for denying access
to the programs.

Knoxville attorney Dean Rivkin hailed Chancery Court Judge Sharon Bell's
ruling from the bench as a "victory for children."

Bell, after a daylong hearing, ordered the school system to either admit
all "students under suspension" to alternative education programs or
"provide a meaningful hearing."

Bell's verbal ruling was based on a 2-year-old case involving students who
committed zero-tolerance offenses, which include possessing a gun or knife
at school, possessing drugs or alcohol or striking a teacher or other
school employee. Students found guilty of committing zero-tolerance
offenses are expelled for two semesters.

Bell did not define a "meaningful hearing," but both attorneys involved in
the case said the phrase involves due process. Bell herself provided plenty
of hints during the hearing through the questions she asked and the
comments she made.

"There is a right to due process and to be advised of the qualifications
that get you in or keep you out," Bell said after testimony showed that
there are no written guidelines for considering expelled students for
alternative school.

And later she said, "Respectfully, I do not believe the Knox County policy
contains specific criterion sufficient to meet constitutional muster."

The case began in January 2001 with a ninth-grader identified only as J.C.
That student and three others who have since joined the case were all
either attending alternative school or had returned to their regular
schools, said Walter Mencer, administrative assistant to the superintendent
of schools and a witness in the case.

During the hearing, Rivkin was granted permission to add a fifth student,
identified as T.E., to the case. She was expelled in September 2002 for
stabbing another student with a knife while on a school bus. She has
received no education services since her expulsion, he said.

Rivkin argued that the Tennessee Constitution grants all children the right
to a free, public education. He also argued the school system's review
policy for admitting students to alternative school violates their right to
due process. Students are not involved in the process at all and are given
no reason when they are denied access to alternative education programs,
Rivkin said.

Knox County Deputy Law Director Marty McCampbell argued that students can
forfeit their right to an education by committing certain offenses. State
law mandates only that each school system establish one alternative school,
she said. Legislators did not require that expelled students be admitted to
alternative school, she said.

"Clearly the Legislature anticipated there would be students who would be
put out of their school district altogether," McCampbell said.

McCampbell also elicited testimony from Assistant Superintendent Roy
Mullins that expanding the alternative school programs would require
substantial cuts to regular school operations, already facing a budget crunch.

In July 2002, Bell ordered the Knox County Board of Education to either
revise its alternative education review policy or she would find for the
plaintiffs. That was largely because changes made to the policy did not
comply with an earlier court order, made in March 2001, by Chancellor Daryl
R. Fansler.

Bell noted in her July 2002 ruling that although 141 students were reviewed
for alternative school placement during the 2001-02 school year, none was
recommended or admitted.

Mencer testified the denials occurred because there was no space available
in the two alternative schools, the Richard Yoakley School for high school
students and the Karns Annex for middle school students.

Mencer said later that Bell's ruling would involve about 20 students who
are now on a waiting list to get into alternative schools. The ruling also
impacts another 20 students who were not recommended for alternative programs.

During the 2001-02 school year, 170 students were expelled under the
zero-tolerance policy. So far this year, another 156 have been expelled.
Since last summer, the Knox County school board has been working on
changing its zero-tolerance policy, which is mandated by state law. The
policy also includes offenses not required by state law.

School Board Chairman Sam Anderson has said a new policy will be in effect
before the next school year. The changes would result in fewer expulsions
because the only zero-tolerance offenses would be bringing a firearm to
school, possessing certain drugs or controlled substances or committing
battery on a school employee.

The school board also established a summer school for expelled students
that allowed them to return to school one semester early.