Zero tolerance too far?

[Lynda/WA]

Many schools are going to a zero tolerance system. Is this the answer to school problems like violence and drugs?

Today I hear of a case in South Carolina that blew me away. A HS student stopped a girl from commiting suicide by taking away the knife she had. He stuck the binder it was in in his locker. Since his mom is a nurse he decided to give it to her and get the girl help via medical professionals. He said he was worried that school involvment would be too stressful and push her over the edge. The school admin found out and asked him if he had taken the knife from her and put it in his locker. He handed it over and they suspended him for 10 days. Later they changed that suspension to an indefinate one. He may have been right about school involvement since the girl slashed her wrists about a week after the initial incident. It sounded like she did it at school as well. I think she survived.

He's now sueing to get back in school and to be reimbursed for the tutoring costs his family has incured.

A friend's 8 yr old son took a flourescent green squirt gun away from another student that had found it on the school yard. He brought it to the teacher and they nearly suspended him. It was written in his school records as a warning. Nothing happened to the other boy. I think this case had more to do with him needing special instruction. Mom puts pressure on the school so they retaliate.

I've also heard of cases like a Kindergartener getting suspended for kissing another K girl. And an older student getting the boot for giving a classmate a Tylenol as well as having the Tylenol to begin with.

On the flip side I saw a report on school violence. I think they were refering to school shooting specifically. In 75% they told other students before hand. In 50% of the cases they were encouraged by other students. In 75% of the case a teacher noticed a change in behavior.

What do you think schools should be doing to stop violence?

[netmechwife]

I recently heard from a mom that her daughter wanted to take a tylonol for her headache at school and at our schools the parent has to come in and administer the tylenol or have a DOCTORS NOTE! I can just see a mom running to the doctor in the middle of her work day and getting a written permission so her daughter can get a tylenol. And yet in our town the same student can walk to planned parenthood and without any kind of parental permission have an abortion (possibly having complications etc.) and the parent may never know. Sad. It makes me sad that this boy got suspended for trying to save the life of another student. And the kindergartener: What 5 year old doesn't kiss people. Schools need to start teaching absolute right and wrong again and morals. How can children learn not to kill each other when they think there is no right or wrong???

[Lynda/WA]

Interesting analogy - abortion is ok without parental knowledge/permission but not talking a tylenol at school! Don't some schools hand out condoms? That's ok without the parent coming to the office to do it or a doctors note but not a simple Tylenol!
BTW - I thought it was ricidulous that my day care center required a doctors note to apply diaper rash ointment. (They wouldn't even allow me to come in and apply it) The base doctor was over 1 hour away so getting permission to use diaper rash oinment would cost us a day of vacation!

[netmechwife]

A DOCTORS NOTE FOR RASH OINTMENT! I feel sorry for any child who gets a rash while at daycare... lol That is so sad. It is rediculous isn't it? A girl under 14 can get an abortion without her parents even knowing possibly have complications and no one would know. How sad...

[Diane]

Originally posted by netmechwife
A DOCTORS NOTE FOR RASH OINTMENT! I feel sorry for any child who gets a rash while at daycare... lol That is so sad. It is rediculous isn't it? A girl under 14 can get an abortion without her parents even knowing possibly have complications and no one would know. How sad...

When my dck's have rashes I use ointment... I can't believe that they would need a doctor's note for something as simple as that. Perscription medications, yes... otherwise no way!

When my dd isn't feeling well... I always send a few Tylenol along with her to school with the warning not to let anybody see her taking them. I know that may not be too smart on my part but she's almost l7 years old... and if she doesn't know by now when she needs to take a Tylenol, something's wrong. I don't think that they are as strict about it at her school as they are in some... maybe because the kids ARE older but I'm thinking that if they really wanted to make a big deal about it, they could.

Diane... :wave:

[JAK]

I worked in a military child care center for a number of years and there is a reason they can not use any kind of medication without a doctors note. The reason being a lot of parents (that I encountered) would rather home medicate a problem than to take their child to the doctor. To some extent that is fine but some times they are only masking the problem not making it better because the parent is not giving the right meds.

The thing with diaper rashes is the if it is just a plain diaper rash then over the counter ointment would help. A lot of time babies would have yeast rashes and the over the counter ointments do nothing for that type of rash. I have seem many babies with rashes that bleed because their parents are too lazy to take them to the doctor to get the right medication.

[Lynda/WA]

Another case of zero tolerance - zero common sense that I heard of today. A Fort Meyer Florida, 18 yr old high school senior was moving over the weekend. While she was in class (Monday?), school officials discovered a kitchen knife on the floor of her car. The first she knew of it was when the police and a school official came to haul her away. She is an honor student that has never been in any trouble. She explained that she had moved over the weekend and didn't know it had fallen down to the floor. She spent the day in jail charged with a felony and had to post a $2,500 bond. The talk show host said she would probably be allowed to finish her exams but not allowed to attend the graduation. The police said they sypathized but weren't given an option. The school officials said they can't treat her any differently even with her exemplary record. I don't see why not. After all they treat students differently all the time!

JAK, yes this was a military daycare. The thing that really, really upset me was when a couple of weeks later I went in to pick up my son and the worker was applying diaper rash ointment that wasn't in a perscription tube. The child was the daughter of another day care worker that wasn't there that day. I made a comment about how I had been told you needed to get a perscription for anything including specifically diaper rash ointment. She looked shamefaced and mumbled something about how normally you do but they were making an exception in this case! This was just one of a number of problems I had with them. After I pulled him I had a number of workers tell me they were hoping I would take action against the admin. They had a rep for unconsistant policies but because we were 60+ miles from anything options were limited. Only that one daycare any where near the auxilary field (wasn't even technically a base - Gila Bend AFAF). Even now nearly 10 yrs later I still get upset thinking about them. Stuck with home daycares after that and was never unhappy with them.