ZT Battle Tactics

Tolerance (the web master) is routinely contacted for advice from others that are fighting a Zero Tolerance Nightmare. As a consequence, I thought it would be worthwhile to consolidate some of the generic advice and add it to the site for everyone's convenience. remember, Tolerance is is not an attorney. Tolerance is just another parent that has experienced this injustice and has heard from countless others who have had similar nightmares.

Guidance for Fighting A Zero Tolerance Injustice:

1. If at all possible get an attorney's advice ASAP. Try to find one that has dealt with Zero Tolerance/expulsion related law. This is often difficult but contact the state bar association they can sometimes point you to some possibilities. Take an attorney to the first and every hearing (if possible). Get and bring an attorney to your appeal hearing even if you don't intend to pursue the appeal beyond the school district. They don't need to know that. They are generally much more reasonable when an attorney is there. If they have over stepped their limits the attorney will usually know and that can make a big difference. They are also less likely to try and bully you.

With respect to finding a good attorney, if you have heard of another ZT related case in your state, try to find out who the attorney was that represented the student in that case especially if they were successful. But even if they were not successful, that attorney should be relatively familiar with the education statutes that are relevant. The unfortunate reality is that the attorneys that are most familiar with education law all work for school districts. As mentioned above the state Bar Association may be able to supply you with a list of such attorneys. We found that to a person they were unwilling to help us, apparently because they were afraid of alienating their bread and butter customer (school districts). We found a recently retired school attorney that was willing to help us, not as our primary attorney but as a consultant. We were referred to him by one of the actively practicing school district attorneys that was sympathetic to our case but still not willing to assist us outright. If you cannot find an attorney that is has actual experience with ZT related education law, your next best bet is probably an attorney that specializes in civil rights litigation or even family law. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that any attorney is better than no attorney in the early stages of these battles.

2. Get copies of any evidence the school has that indicates your son or daughter was informed of the Zero Tolerance rules.

3. Get and read/study the relevant school policies, procedures, handbooks etc. Know them better than the school.

4. Look up you state laws on the subject, they are usually straightforward to read and understand. Check out: http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html#state . Most of the state statutes can be found at this free web site.

5. If you think your school district is exceeding their authority under the law, make sure that argument is made at your hearings and that it becomes part of the expulsion record for your son or daughter.

6. Typically you can not pursue your battle in the court unless you exhaust all the appeal options within a school district

7. Present all your arguments both verbally and in writing

8. In general, you should NOT let the hearing officer or anyone question your son or daughter. They will try their best to get them to incriminate themselves. Your son and/or daughter should take the 5th! It happens time and time again, that the only evidence they have is your son or daughter's honesty. These ZT zealots do not place ANY value on honesty and integrity. Do NOT BE NAIVE (like I was). These are not the same kind of school officials you remember from your childhood.

9. Present and submit everything that is conceivably relevant to your case at the district hearings. Date and label the material as prepared and/or presented at the relevant hearing. Make sure there is no question as to what you told who and when your told them. In Colorado if you pursue a judicial review of the school board's decision, no new evidence (above and beyond what the school district considered) can be submitted to support your case.

10. Find out ahead of time if the school board has ever made an exception relative to the ZT offense and punishment your son or daughter is likely to get. They will usually tell you and tell you why they made the exception. If they have never made an exception you will know that going in pleading for lenience is not likely to work. In which case you might as well assume a more assertive/aggressive posture. You need to decide if there is anything to lose…

11. Bring a tape recorder and record the hearing if possible. The school district might do that as well but do not depend on them for a tape or to record the session correctly.

12. If the only evidence is another student(s) accusation, pay for and get your son or daughter polygraphed professionally. Assuming they pass the polygraph you will want to submit that as evidence at your district appeal (s). You need to move fast to make this happen in time (see #8 above).

13. Consider going to the press if you situation is really outrageous. School District's tend to be more reasonable if they know their lack of common sense is going to be publicized to their friends and neighbors. The press will not always cover your story and they are not always that accurate in their coverage. Going to the press can be painful but it can help. Look at how the Decatur School Board started compromising once Jessie Jackson and the TV camera's showed up. The two year expulsion was reduced to one year and alternative schooling was offered for the 1 year expulsion period.

14. In most states there are time limits for requesting appeals within the district and beyond. If you fail to request an appeal hearing within the specified time limit you typically forfeit your right to that appeal. Find out what these time limits are ASAP! They are often only 5 days after a decision is rendered. Use time registered mail options to document the timeliness of your requests for those hearings.

15. If you feel you have been injured in a manner that may be recoverable (that is if you think you can sue for monetary damages) there is usually a time limit on the exercising of that option. In Colorado, I believe you have 180 days from the incident to at least declare an intent to sue. You can then bring such a suit at a later date.

16. If you urgently need to get your son or daughter back in school and have exhausted your in-school district appeal options, you will need to pursue a court ordered injunction. If you get such an injunction, it normally bodes well for your eventual success. If you don't get the injunction that might tell you something. Getting an injunction may take a few weeks. In court time, that is quick!

17. The courts give the school districts lots of latitude. Winning in court will not be easy. Typically the school district's actions have to be pretty outrageous to be reversed by a judge. Kids are not accorded the same degree of justice that adults are so don't go into the battle with expectation of constitutional "Due Process." It's a myth when it comes to kids and schools.

Bill's Advice: KNOW YOUR ENEMY!

Dear Tolerance:

In going through the ZT cases on your Web page for updates, and reading other cases on the Internet, I found that some schools deny having a ZT policy because their handbook or written school rules do not specifically state that the discipline policy is "a zero tolerance policy."

Here's how Julie Underwood, General Counsel for the National School Boards Association defined zero tolerance: "

"A zero tolerance policy is generally defined as a school or district policy that mandates predetermined consequences or punishment for specific offenses, regardless of the circumstances or disciplinary history of the student."

Her six-page report entitled Zero-Tolerance Policies is very interesting. It's written from the NSBA's position on ZT and is good info to have. It's always nice to have information from the enemy.

Here's how to get the report and others from the enemy:

From your home page, type: http://www.nsba.org

Next page is NSBA Home Page. Scroll to the bottom and click on Search

On next page type: zero tolerance policies in search box. click search

On next page click on #2, Adopt a Zero Tolerance Policy and Mentality

After you get that report, go back and click on all the others listed. It' nice to know how administrators and board members think about zero tolerance policies. They may not realize it, but they have been the best friends we have in fighting the injustice done my granddaughter under our
school district's stupid ZT policy. We are charging the school district with violation of freedom of speech and due process. I would strongly suggest parents search the web for information put out in publications and under the heading of legal advise by your state's School Boards Association and the
National School Boards Association. Remember, these organizations provide legal representation for school boards. And they have been on the defensive lately because of all the attention being given to ZT cases. It's like going up against your rival team and knowing exactly how the coaches will call the plays.

Organizations that school administrators belong to would be another good source of information. These organizations are also on the defensive. Learn their plays. A great source is American Association of School Administrators (AASA). The best article I found was by Nathan L. Essex,
Safeguarding Rights, Minimizing Exposure.

For those of you who are challenging schools on freedom of expression rights (East Ascension High School in Gonzales, for example), here is really great information on three recent federal court cases where judges ruled in favor of students who were suspended or expelled for speech or expression that school officials deemed threatening. This article is seven pages long and is entitled SPLC Report. The SPLC is the Student Press Law Center, and they are on top of the situation. The article is identified as Spring 2000 Story Beginning on page 18. To go direct to the SPLC Report, try this.

http://www.splc.org/report/s00report/s00p18a.html

Hope all of this will help at least one student. Regards, Bill

P. S. Learn all you can about these two landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings: Tinker v. Des Moines(1969), ruling on freedom of speech and expression; and Goss v. Lopez,et el,1975, dealing with due process requirements for suspensions of 10 days or less.