ADVIL! Nooooooooooooo!!!!!

[Lady Sidhe]

SEARCH AND SEIZURE: A student told a teacher at Parkview High School in Bossier City, La., that sophomore Amanda Stiles was smoking in the bathroom. The teacher confronted Stiles and searched her purse, but found no cigarettes or lighters. She did, however, find something else: Advil, an over-the-counter medication used to relieve headaches and menstrual cramps. "Pills!" screamed the school administrators. Possessing drugs on campus is a "zero tolerance" infraction, they point out, so they expelled Stiles for a year. The expulsion was upheld by the School Board's administrative committee and Superintendent Ken
Kruithof. (Shreveport Times) ...Thus perpetuating their smug satisfaction that they're "doing something" about the "drug problem."

ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE: Even though Houston, Texas, school Superintendent Rod Paige ordered all schools in his district to expel violent students four years ago, teachers complain students who assault and harass them are still in class. Houston Federation of Teachers union President
Gayle Fallon says principals aren't expelling violent kids since that decreases funding. A district spokesman denies that claim, saying schools get $15 per day per student, and "no principal in their right mind is going to keep a dangerous kid in their school for $15."
(Houston Chronicle) ...Right: not when they can have much more fun getting rid of kids armed with Advil.

Teachers and students are being assaulted by kids with guns and knives, and they're worried about ADVIL....

Sidhe

[ladysycamore]

Wow, that sucks. I remember in HS, the school nurse would practically advocate girls having aspirin, Tylenol and/or Midol on hand, just in case during that time of month our insides suddenly decided to turn into knots.

Man oh man, if I had to take the amount of meds then that I do now...ha, talk about expulsion!

[Scopulus Argentarius]

I hate zero tolerance programs and how they are used!

(I hate them even more when they're 3.5 hours away by car. - in Bossier)

Zero tolerance programs attempt to replace common sense but are malignant substitutes for thinking and have caused too many innocent people grief.

[wolf]

There is a lot of zero tolerance absurdity going around, but the one that I still don't get ...

On a school bus a child was having an asthma attack.

She did not have her asthma inhaler.

Her TWIN SISTER was on the same medication.

And provided the inhaler to her sister who was in obvious distress and need, and in a life threatening situation.

Both sisters were expelled under the "logic" of zero tolerance.

I don't know if the case went to court and if the girls were reinstated, but this is ridiculous.

[Happy Monkey]

I have zero tolerance for zero tolerance policies. This policy itself is the exception to itself which prevents me from being hypocritical.

[tikat]

. o O (Zero tolerance policies make perfect sense. We're just getting your kids used to life in a police state.

By the time they get out, they'll be used to not having any rights and they won't object when our agents in your pitiful human government gradually whittle them away.

Mwuahahahaaaa!)

[Lady Sidhe]

If you guys are interested in these kinds of absurdities, you can go to www.thisistrue.com, or www.stellaawards.com, which lists stupid lawsuits, stupid happenings. If you're more of my bent, you might like www.darwinawards.com.

Sidhe

[Elspode]

Zero Tolerance prevents anyone from having to actually think, or (gods forbid) *teach* anyone to think.

"No, it is all right here on paper, thanks. We don't need to consider anything. Common sense? No, no, I don't see anything written here in our policy about that. All of this reading is giving me a headache. Anyone got an aspirin? Ha, ha, ha! Just kidding! Damn, I kill me".

[russotto]

When I was in middle school I had a brush with a similar policy myself. Some teacher saw me take a Chlor-Trimeton at the water fountain.
Fortunately I had only one pill with me and I'd already taken the evidence. And I'd already had lots of experience with the justice doled out by school administrators. So once I found out what was up I simply lied my ass off and claimed I hadn't taken anything at all. And was more careful about taking the pill in the future.

P.S. a 700 pill bottle of generic ibuprofen is less than $10 at Target. I wouldn't advocate taking such a bottle and emptying it out along the hallways of the school in question, but I'd sure laugh hilariously at the results.

[time4me]

For being in the "education" business, our "educators" or rather the administration, are a bunch of idiots following the policies of a bunch of other idiots. We would do well to start trying to abolish these stupid policies and start using our brains again.

[richlevy]

This reminds me a little bit of the Star of David 'gang symbol' incident. The usual stages of this process are:

1) School board comes up with asinine overreaching policy and expells or suspends some unlucky student.

2) Student and parents protest to the school district, which closes ranks with school and upholds the schools action.

3) Parents hire private trial lawyer and/or ACLU or other advocacy group.

4) Parent threaten to sue or actually sue school for amount in the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

5) If case is interesting enough, national media picks up story and school district is held up to public ridicule.

6) School district hires lawyer or finally talks to their lawyer, who tells them their case is unwinnable.

7) School districts insurance carrier tells them to settle or else.

8) School district announces settlement, blames miscommunication, sunspots, aliens, on 'regrettable misunderstanding', and puts enough spin on apology to cause the earth to wobble slightly in its orbit.



I checked one of the links on the Advil story at http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/...lsion001.shtml

The most interesting part of the article is this:

Superintendent Ken Kruithof said after the board meeting that the school system is following a state law that requires a one-year expulsion and is being consistent with the system's "zero-tolerance" policy.

But another school official said earlier Thursday that having medication on campus does not automatically lead to a one-year expulsion.

"After an investigation and a hearing then, if necessary, punishment is administered. It could be no punishment," said Betty McCauley, Bossier schools student services director.

Disciplinary action can range from in-school suspension to placement at the system's alternative school or expulsion from the system.

So one official does not believe they have any discretion and another believes there are a wide range of remedies. This is the equivalent to someone telling a defendent "Well, we're not really sure, but its either mandatory life or 3 months".

Don't these idiots even know their own rules?

This is why trial lawyers, for all of their villification by the press and politicians, are actually a neccesary component in our system. It seems obvious that the school officials, having made a decision, will not back down. No public officials have an incentive to step in. Only a person or group who wants to make a point, like the ACLU, or someone who can make a profit would be willing to step in.

I am sure that the girl's parents are already sifting through offers at this time.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The superintendent is probably saying max penalty to all to prevent being accused of being bias.

[time4me]

Hey richlevy, you sure do understand education and politics. I was actually in that boat ready to go to due process, our school district finally suggested mediation when we announced we had hired a lawyer. Our problem was that our twice gifted child was not getting an education because they couldn't understand how to teach him. But he was on grade level all the time because he is so bright. The problem was that he couldn't even get through a day of school and never even finished a school year until we placed him in a private school 1 hour away that he seems to be the "poster child" of. This is a long story but suffice to say, they could not look at my child as an individual but had to put him in a box. The box just couldn't stay wrapped. It is amazing the change in my child in just a year when he got what he needed and not what the kid down the street needed. We are dealing with people in the education business not a machine that needs a new screw or wire. Until our educators and politicians can see this, a lawyer will always be needed. I can tell you this, I would still go to due process to this day if I didn't get the settlement I needed to educate my child. In the end, they did what was right in our situation but have a long way to go to serve all of our children, especially our gifted kids who really do need a lot of guidance and a different approach to education than our traditional fare. Off my soapbox for now.

[OnyxCougar]

When do you mean "gifted" do you mean smart like Einstein or as in takes the short bus? And what does twice gifted mean?

My kids are a mixed lot. The oldest simply doesn't give a shit and could care less if he graduates or not, so he gets D's and F's and there is little I can do. I can make him do his homework, but I can't make him turn it in once he gets to school. I can put him on "restriction" for the bad grades, but he doesn't care if he sits in his room for days on end. All he does is go to sleep. Yeah. 2 more years....just 2 more...

The middle one is my "special" son, he's been in Special Ed and on IEP's since Kindergarten. He's smart, about 2 grade levels above his age group, but because he's autistic, a large classroom setting (= lots of kids) plus a more chaotic enviroment (=less structure and schedule adherance than a "special class") = a very uncontrollable (and potentially hysterical) 10 year old male.

My youngest is the einstein of the group. Smart as a whip, kind, friendly, beautiful, and the all around "perfect" child. She's the one that scares me.

[Undertoad]

Sorry to be nosy, but what's the long term expectation for your middle one? What did people think of kids like that before they knew what autism is?