Back to school means Back to Zero Tolerance Policies for your child.

[Cheryl Baumgartner CITRMS]

Zero tolerance policies have become the standard in our schools. While the spirit behind them is admirable, the application of these policies leave something to be desired.

Yes we do need to keep weapons and illicit drugs out of our schools, but there needs to be some common sense applied to these policies. That's the problem, the zero tolerance policy leaves no room for judging each case on it's own merits. It also makes no allowance for honest mistakes or even non criminal actions. Everything is for lack of a better word "criminalized" under a zero tolerance policy.

Imagine the following scenarios:
*Your 14 year old Daughter takes Midol to school with her. Midol is a perfectly legal over the counter pain reliever for the treatment of menstrual symptoms. However if she is caught with it, she is violating the school's zero tolerance policy.

*Your son forgets he has a swiss army knife in his pocket. He remembers on the way to school and immediately upon arrival at school he turns it in to the office and gets suspended for violating the schools zero tolerance policy on weapons.

*Your child is being bullied by another child and hit's them back. Your child is suspended for defending himself because it violated the school zero violence policy.

There is case after case of these zero tolerance policies catching good kids and punishing them without thought to the childs' prior behavior or academic record. Sounds unfair to me. Even The American Bar Association recognizes the unfairness of these policies.

So how do you protect your child's rights. How about making sure that the child's rights are protected by legal counsel? An attorney in your child's corner only makes sense when their rights are at stake.