The term Zero Tolerance was invented during the Reagan administration inferring that there was a Zero Tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol for schools. The Clinton administration then included a Zero Tolerance policy for guns and weapon as well. Although well meaning, there has been a clear lack of common sense with both interpreting and enforcing these policies. All too frequently, police have arrested students for things in school that they would not outside of school. In addition to this, the policies have become too subjective, now including other behaviors that years ago would have been settled in the principal's office.

Evidence that has been collected over the past twenty years confirms the following:
- Only 3% of suspensions or expulsions were for the possession of drugs, alcohol or firearms.
-The vast majority of students who are suspended or expelled are black and special education students.
-Police officers are involved in school disciplinary issues that should be the responsibilities of the administrators.
-Students that have been suspended or expelled are three times as likely to become involved in the juvenile court system.

Thankfully, communities are fighting back. School districts are implementing a strategy called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). PBIS encourages and rewards positive behavior. It has replaced many of the punitive Zero Tolerance policies.

My school has been training in PBIS. This is the third year that we have incorporated this strategy into many aspects of our school climate. It is working; attendance is up, suspensions are down as well as many other behaviors like fighting and vandalism.

When I read this article, I thought about a boy that I had in class about 15 years ago. His mother was in and out of jail and he went back and forth between living with his father and his grandmother. He was 15 years old in the 8th grade. He was always in trouble. Nearly every day, he was late for school and so he would get detention. He wouldn't stay for detention and then get suspended. As a result, he was failing 8th grade for the second time. I asked him one day why he was always late. He told me that if he wanted to stay with his father, he had to give his father money each week for room and board. He had gotten a job working after school until 11:00 each night. Then he would walk home, getting home even later. He had a hard time waking up every morning, so he was chronically late. My classroom has a back door. I told him to come to the back door in the morning and I would let him in and he could make up work in homeroom. If he stayed after school each day, he could do his homework with me. He agreed. He stopped coming in late which led to no detentions or suspensions. He caught up on his work and passed all of his classes.

If schools implicated every Zero Tolerance policy, it is likely this boy would have ended up in jail. This boy, came to school every day despite many things being stacked against him. I haven't seen him in a few years, but the last time I saw him, he was married with two kids working a job in construction.