Texas Zero Tolerance

Texas Zero Tolerance

© 2008 Texas Zero Tolerance

All Rights Reserved

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.

What a child should and should not do - Do not let your child speak to police before you are contacted and other suggestions to make to your children before you send them to school

Passing the paddle to law enforcement - In many schools the discipline management system established to teach students discipline under school authority has nearly become extinct, replaced by Municipal and Justice of the Peace courts

Who’s With Us

• Advocacy, Inc
  

• American Bar Association
  

• American Psychological Association
  

• Federal Bureau of Investigation
  

• Parents Advisory Council Team
  

• Safe Saner Schools
  

• Texas Appleseed
  

• Texas Classroom Teachers Association
  

• The Texas Coalition Advocating Justice for Juveniles
  

• Texas Public Policy Foundation
  

• The Heritage Foundation
  

• The Rutherford Institute
  

• The Voice of Truth
  

Would your group like to be added to the list?

Who’s Against Us

• Texas Association of School Boards
  

• Texas Association of School Administrators
  

• Various Texas Teachers Unions
  

Open Letter to those groups against disciplinary reform

Our Solutions

(Full Text)

• 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.
  

• The language of HB603 must be made mandatory.
  

Take Action! ~ Tell the Legislature we've had enough

Zero Tolerance - Zero Sense: Our Case for Reform

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. However, if an officer is there to arrest a student or take the student into custody, the district definitely should not interfere.” ~ TEA Staff Lawyer

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Texas Zero Tolerance - Welcome

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 603 can be found here.

Confused by some of the terms used on this website? We have a new glossary that will help.

Examples of 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.