DENVER -- Nearly two years after Colorado lawmakers pushed for changes in 'zero tolerance' policies at schools, the Federal government is now getting involved in the discipline debate.
Zero tolerance policies, which were designed to protect schools from shootings and gang violence, have recently come under fire for unfairly targeting minorities for strict punishments.
"Far too many students across the country are diverted from the path to success by unnecessarily harsh discipline policies and practices that exclude them from school for minor infractions," said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder during a media event on Wednesday in Baltimore.
This week the government is releasing a list of new guidelines that could help enable school districts across the country to reform their discipline programs to better suit school safety needs.
See the full report and learn more about zero tolerance.
Colorado modified its discipline laws in 2012 after lawmakers heard complaints of unfair discipline cases from across the state.
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myadar
They are dealing with racial disparities in discipline. When are they going to deal with gender disparities?
Tom Ward
LOL. Draconian mandatory sentencing zero tolerance policies are freaking moronic, glad they are finally waking up to that reality.
Test
Are the disparities real? Holder mentioned that there are “different punishments for similar infractions”. But are the infractions really similar? Example, one kid brings a gun to school in order to intimidate and scare rivals another kid has a gun in their car after a morning duck hunt, the gun never left the car and the kid has no intentions of causing fear or harm. The “infraction” may be reported by the same check box on a form, but the reality is that they are two completely different incidents.
I’m not sure the Feds are addressing the real zero tolerance issues, I think they’re really just advancing their “racism” agenda.