Look folks Zero Tolerance policies are not about protecting the students or other apparent beneficiaries of the policy.
Very simply they are there to protect the school administration from being canned for being stupid. They force the administration not to use their brains (for which they can be criticized) and allow them to point at an inflexible rule – “I had to take this action because it is policy”. This is the solution which the National Education Assoc., a teacher’s union, promulgates. Their goal is not the education of students or the safety of students, but the continued employment of their members. All of these rules essentially dumb down the job of being an administrator. Being a stupid administrator isn’t an accident, it’s the whole point!
As an added bonus, these rules allow them to “educate” students in some of the NEA’s own politically correct thought and speech. These ideas are floated to the sheep which attend PTA meetings and in that manner receive the support of parents. The PTA has long been co-opted as an arm of the teachers union and most parents remain blissfully ignorant.
Homeroom Security: book about the insanity of zero-tolerance classroom policies – Boing Boing.