ABSTRACT
Initiated to curb drug abuse and weapons in school, zero tolerance expanded beyond its original intent in ways that have defied common sense and served as a school-to-prison pipeline. This chapter has four cases. In the first, a student was expelled for violating the school's zero tolerance policy on weapons even though he had taken the knife away from a friend who had threatened suicide. Next, a student who was expelled for having a knife in the glove compartment of his car, even though he did not know the knife was there. Another court upheld the suspension of a five-year-old kindergarten student for playing a game with another student where they pretended to shoot each other. In the final case, a popular high school constitutional law teacher was fired for refusing to take a drug test within the required time after marijuana was found in her unlocked car. Even though the teacher was found to be drug free and despite a for public outcry in her favor, the school board terminated her.
