The strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice - Benjamin Franklin
When our children in Texas public schools can be accused, found guilty, ticketed, often times arrested and removed from school before parents are notified, then there is something intrinsically wrong with a system that claims to work in partnership with parents for the education and wellbeing of our children.
Conferences in July
TZT will be involved with two conferences in the month of July.
Americans for Prosperity Foundation
RightOnline
RightOnline is a project of Americans for Prosperity Foundation dedicated to advancing liberty and prosperity for all Americans through greater citizen participation online. TZT will be attending July 23rd and 24th in Las Vegas.
ACLU-Texas
Youth Rights in Texas: Sensible School Discipline
TZT will be represented on a panel discussion at the ACLU's annual conference in Austin with this year's focus on the disciplinary system in our Texas public schools. This is a must for all who support our efforts at ending school district abuse of our children.
Register for the Saturday July 31, 2010 Conference.
TZT Recently In The News...
Who’s With Us
Who’s Against Us
- Various Texas Teachers Unions
Our Solutions
- Immediate parental contact concerning any incident that could involve removal from school and/or criminal prosecution. Parents have the right to be present prior to the child speaking to administrators and/or police.
- 48-hour cooling off period before a criminal citation may be issued unless the incident constitutes an immediate and continuous threat to the safety of the school.
- An appeals process that allows parents/guardians the right to appeal any suspension, removal to a disciplinary alternative education program, or expulsion regardless of whether mandatory or not, with the school board or governing authority of that public school the final arbiter.
- Students will have the opportunity to turn in prohibited items without fear of immediate punishment. A parent/guardian conference will have to take place prior to punishment and/or criminal prosecution. The exception would be in the case of an immediate and continuing threat to the safety of the school environment.
New cases involving police impunity and rights violations while on campuses:
Are these dangerous weapons?
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The War on Kids is an award winning documentary detailing zero tolerance in America's schools and how out of control our public schools really are. We encourage you to support the documentary by making a purchase. We give it an A+...
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New - in Student's Corner, Amanda Toohey explores the zero tolerance disciplinary policies in public schools and the warehousing of students in the school-to-prison pipeline.
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Texas Zero Tolerance has been featured in a number of national media outlets in the past several months. As a result, we have a large amount of out-of-state traffic. We'd like to hear from you!
If you'd like to report an out-of-state case, please do so using our Report A Case form and tell us what state, city and school district you're from. If you'd just like to drop us a line and tell us what's on your mind, please email us at tztinfo@yahoo.com.
Thanks for all the support!
A special thanks to Texas State Representative Dora Olivo
Unfortunately Rep. Olivo lost her battle in the primary. We have all the respect for her in the world and wish her well. None of the reforms we have realized to date would have happened without her tireless efforts. She has been the protector of the voiceless and she will be missed. God speed Rep. Olivo and thank you so much for your unfailing support since 2003.
Why Texas Zero Tolerance is Needed
As parents of children in the Texas public school system, we are constantly reminded that we are partners in the education of our children.
Many parents in Texas do not realize that if their child is accused of a disciplinary infraction at their school, they can be brought into the school principal’s office, interrogated by school officials, interrogated by police, arrested and taken to jail before parents are notified. After all the dust has settled, you as a parent have few rights for an appeal. Once a citation is written, it cannot be taken back and your child will have to appear in court.
We ask that you take some time to explore our website - examine some of the examples of this abuse in our Reported Cases section and help us reform Chapter 37 (particularly § 37.001 - Student Code of Conduct) of the Texas Education Code to allow due process and common sense back into our schools. The text of House Bill 171 (previous reform initiative) can be found here.
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by Eddie Evans, Co-Director - Texas Zero Tolerance
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"We hold children to higher standards than we hold adults. We don't leave any room for children to make mistakes." ~ Billy Jacobs, former Senior Director of the Safe Schools Division of the Texas Education Agency
“There is no law authorizing an officer to interview a child on campus (except for investigations of child abuse or neglect). The school district can choose. It can permit interrogations, it can refuse to allow interrogations, or it can choose to allow interrogations only if the parent has first been contacted.” - TEA Staff Lawyer
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Typical cases we have received…
- Disruption of peace and Class “C” Misdemeanors that have carried fines from $50 to $500 plus six-month probations for uttering a curse word – not to be confused with a child verbally abusing another student or teacher.
- Possession of pocketknives, box cutters, mini souvenir bats result in prosecutions and sentences to JJAEP boot camps
- Terroristic threats issued for having “hate lists” such as a child writing that they don’t like Michael Jackson, as example.
- Innocent childhood pranks such as “mooning” or “pantsing” ending with sexual harassment charges and extended punishment in alternative education programs.
- Students defending against attacks by other students charged with aggravated assault and extended punishments in alternative education programs.
There are many more – many that are complex cases – but in all, we believe that absolute power in the hands of school district administrators have absolutely corrupted common sense.
