Incidents Show Big Range Of Zero-Tolerance Policies

Unlike many of the issues schools deal with today, there is no argument over adoption of “zero-tolerance” policies to control drugs, alcohol and weapons.

“Those (schools) with no-tolerance policies across the country are having grand success,” said Carol Strong, in charge of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program for the state Superintendent of Public Instruction in Olympia.

“We’re finding that when we establish no tolerance to violence, and students are seeing the consequences, it is greatly reducing the incidences in the schools.”

But while schoolhouse doors are slamming shut to cases of violence, drugs, alcohol and weapons, zero tolerance doesn’t mean the same thing at every school:

A student caught with marijuana at a Lakewood high school, near Tacoma, is given a choice between a 90-day suspension and enrollment in a drug-treatment program, after his parents are contacted. Police are told of the incident later and how it was resolved. Officers remove the confiscated drug.

If that same incident happened in the nearby Bethel district, a sheriff’s deputy would be contacted immediately. While the school punishment might be the same as in Lakewood, a police report would go to juvenile court. The student probably would end up in drug diversion, without a criminal record, but most likely his driver’s license would be suspended for 90 days.

A sixth-grader in Federal Way tells her principal that her mother accidentally packed a beer can in her lunch and that a friend opened and tasted it. The principal calls the parents of both students, and suspends them for a week.

In Tacoma, the parents would be called, but the principal could shorten the suspension to one day, or defer it. In Puyallup or Sumner, the students might not have been suspended at all because putting the can into the lunch was a mistake, according to district officials.

These examples, drawn from news stories in recent weeks, touched off lively public debates, with some arguing for the hard line and others insisting leniency would be appropriate in more instances.

Strong said that is as it should be. Federal and state laws require policies be established addressing children in possession of drugs and alcohol, but it is up to individual districts and schools to determine how strict they will be in setting and enforcing the policy, she said.

“There are districts that have no tolerance, it’s an absolute,” while others are easier-going, she said.