Shreveport.com - View Single Post - Haughton Student Is Expelled For Having Midol At School

joepole · 05-19-2007, 11:04 AM

>Other than that.. I do have a problem with these "absolute" rules. you're telling me.. for example, a straight A student. comes to school with an aspirin , they could get expelled.. I just don't see that being in the best interest of the student.

It's not in the best interest of the student, it's in the best interests of the students. Zero Tolerance policies are a good thing because they allow the administration to enforce rules without being charged with discriminating against any particular subset of the population.

Without such a policy when 90% of the students suspended for drug problems were of one particular race, the school would have no defense against charges of favoritism, leading to lack of enforcement, which is a detriment to the entire school. This girl is a casualty of an imperfect system that is better than any known alternative.

05-19-2007, 11:04 AM	#45
joepole SBLive! Veteran Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,606 Rep Power: 260	>Other than that.. I do have a problem with these "absolute" rules. you're telling me.. for example, a straight A student. comes to school with an aspirin , they could get expelled.. I just don't see that being in the best interest of the student. It's not in the best interest of the student, it's in the best interests of the students. Zero Tolerance policies are a good thing because they allow the administration to enforce rules without being charged with discriminating against any particular subset of the population. Without such a policy when 90% of the students suspended for drug problems were of one particular race, the school would have no defense against charges of favoritism, leading to lack of enforcement, which is a detriment to the entire school. This girl is a casualty of an imperfect system that is better than any known alternative.