Zero tolerance for junior

There was a story in the news here yesterday that gave new meaning to the school district's zero tolerance policy, when the district suspended a four-year-old pre-K student for three days. A 4-year-old for three days?!? Give me a break.

I know you must be thinking, "Now, Mary Jo, they have these policies for a reason. Surely the little boy did something really horrible like bring a live grenade for show-and-tell and threaten to blow the whole class to bits. Or maybe he wheeled his portable meth lab to school in his Radio Flyer wagon."

Nope. He brought to school a key chain with a little fake gun on it. I'm talking 2 inches by 2 inches. I hate guns and firmly expect that my kids will be able to go to public school without worrying about guns being there. I think a policy of no guns no matter how little and no matter how fake is a good one. The problem I have is not the policy, but the enforcement of it.

Is suspending a preschooler for three days, an infraction that will go on his permanent record, really the best way to honor the intent of zero tolerance? I certainly think a trip to the principal’s office for both the kid and his parents is warranted but a 3-day suspension is a tad much. I’m guessing that the ‘policy’ is one-size-fits-all; that it applies to all students period. While it should apply to all students in terms of whether they can bring a gun to school, I think a cute little matrix of age groups and punishments would be a wise addition to the policy.

By the way, once the news station starting shining a light on this, the school quickly changed the suspension to a half-day, in school suspension. Heck, that was yesterday. With enough pressure they may have revised it further today and given him a free trip to Baskin Robbins along with a please-don’t-sue-us greeting card.