DENVER—School misbehavior that years ago resulted in a trip to the principal’s office but now sometimes gets children put in handcuffs is getting a closer look from Colorado lawmakers, part of a national trend to review school punishment.
The state panel studying the issue got a glimpse Wednesday from high school students about the harsh discipline they sometimes face for minor or unintentional offenses because of zero-tolerance policies adopted after the Columbine High School shootings and other high-profile cases of youth violence.
The students stood in a semi-circle in front of the panelists and each read about cases around the state: An 11-year-old student who swung a beanbag chair around the classroom and accidentally hit his teacher, resulting in a ticket for harassment and third-degree assault. An eighth-grade student who drew doodles on his desk and got a municipal ticket for graffiti. A 10-year-old boy who took gum from his teacher’s purse and was charged with misdemeanor theft.
“We are here because we believe schools can be safe without criminalizing students for minor misbehaviors,” said Brandon Wagoner, 17, one of the students in the presentation. Wagoner called it a synopsis of some of the Colorado cases this year that have caught the attention of the group he belongs to, Parents and Youth United, which is pushing for policy changes.
Colorado lawmakers created the panel this year to review zero-tolerance policies at state schools. Wednesday was the first of several meetings before the group develops ideas for legislation by October. The panel plans to hear testimony from victims and law enforcement at its next hearing in August.
Republican Rep. B.J. Nikkel, one of the lawmakers on the panel, said some of the policies have led to the “over-criminalization” of students. She said law enforcement officers sometimes feel shackled by the policies because they’re left with little discretion on how to deal with problem students.
“We do want to make sure that criminals are punished, and indeed they will be. We’re simply seeking balance,” Nikkel said about the intent of the panel, which includes law enforcement and community representatives.
Lawmakers said about 100,000 students in Colorado have been referred to police during the last decade after getting in trouble in school, sometimes for fighting or bringing a toy gun to school.
Democratic Sen. Evie Hudak cited the case this year of a 10-year-old Colorado boy who was arrested after finding a BB gun on a street and playing with it at a school playground after classes ended. The boy’s mother told the Boulder Daily Camera that her son was playing cops with other boys and not threatening anyone.
Jonathan Senft, a staffer with Colorado’s Legislative Council, told the panel that zero-tolerance policies are meant to target serious offense, such as bringing a firearm to school, but sometimes there are unintended consequences. He said in one instance, a Colorado student was suspended for bringing a wooden replica of a rifle to school. Nationally, students have gotten suspended for having nail clippers or scissors, he said.
Seema Ahmad, a staff attorney at a Washington, D.C.-based civil rights group called Advancement Project, said other states have also begun to look at their school disciplinary policies. In Florida, legislators approved a law that requires school boards to create guidelines with law enforcement to distinguish between minor and serious offenses to allow for disciplinary discretion, she said. Ahmad said North Carolina also passed a law requiring school districts to examine a student’s intent and disciplinary history before deciding on a punishment.
Texas has introduced legislation like Colorado to create a task force to look at school discipline, Ahmad said.
Ahmad said about 3.3 million students were suspended at least once nationally, according U.S. Department of Justice figures from 2006, the latest available data. Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be suspended or expelled than white students, Ahmad said.
The Colorado panel plans to also study disciplinary trends among races.
Democratic Sen. Linda Newell, who lives about a mile from Columbine High School, where two students killed 13 people and then themselves, said she’s aware of parents’ concerns about their children’s safety. But she said she also wants the panel to look at ways to change what she calls a “regimented” system.
Stan Garnett, the top prosecutor in Boulder County, said he worries about what children take away from their early experiences with law enforcement.
“One of the concerns I’ve had is that I think zero-tolerance often teaches kids that authority makes no sense,” he said.
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