Professional Educators of Tennessee

Citing what it sees as a troubling lack of common sense that schools sometimes use when applying  "zero tolerance" discipline policies , the American Bar Association  approved a resolution recently opposing such policies. But some school groups said the influential lawyers' group shouldn't be so quick to condemn the tough student discipline measures. The resolution says that the association supports strong policies against weapons and crime in schools, but that policies mandating equal punishments for largely different acts of misbehavior will not have the support  of the ABA, a Chicago based group that represents more than 400,000 lawyers nationwide.

Rather , the association said, it supports policies that allow school officials to judge each case individually and that provide alternatives to mandatory expulsion or referral to law enforcement - the standard punishments handed out under zero-tolerance policies. this proposal if implemented would relieve [schools] from the burden of being stupid," argued Michael Johnson, a representative of the ABA Criminal Justice Section. They argue, schools have used zero-tolerance policies to take excessive disciplinary action against students for such infractions as carrying aspirin on school grounds or possessing plastic toy guns.