"We have to send a message that we're serious about no guns and drugs," says Michael Resnick, associate executive director for advocacy and issues management at the National School Boards Association (NSBA). "We can't be fuzzy around the edges about that message." (Koch 2000, pg. 2) But how serious is serious? Do they really need to take the policies and punishments this far? For drugs and guns, yes they certainly do, but suspending a child for bringing in a toy gun and or even a medication such as Tylenol or Midol is absurd. Some administrators feel that bringing a toy gun is a violence factor or that Tylenol is considered a drug. Many people would disagree with those administrators about this. These people feel that schools have gone too far with their rules and regulations and the kind of punishments that take place with the incidents that have occurred.
             Zero tolerance is the policy or practice to not tolerate undesirable behavior, such as violence or illegal drug use, especially in the automatic imposition of severe penalties for
             the first offenses. (Dictionary.com 2002) In Florida, an 18 year old National Merit Scholar was pulled out of her class,
             handcuffed, charged with a felony and banned from her graduation. A police officer had passed by her car and saw a kitchen knife lying in the passenger seat. She had left it there accidentally after using it the weekend before to open some boxes. (Wald 2002, [online]) A zero tolerance policy does not reduce crime, but rather creates an atmosphere of unnecessary hostility and unwanted drama. The zero tolerance policy has gone overboard with its restrictions in school on "weapons" and "drugs" and the discipline that takes action.
             Because of the seriousness of the school violence that has occurred in the past few years, the policy for zero tolerance has become much more aggressive and harsher on children. After the massacre that happened at Columbine High School in 1999 many s...