Zero Tolerance

Let's do a little role play, shall we?

Imagine you are the principal of a middle school.

A 13 year old boy is brought into your office. He was overheard talking about firearms, then threatened another student and himself.

A search of the boy and his locker have produced no weapons or contraband. The boy admits to talking about target shooting - and mouthing off to another student who overheard the discussion.

His version - the exchange went like this:

Q:What would you do with a gun if you had one?

A:Well, I'd shoot you and then myself.

"You see," says the kid - "I was making a joke."

There were no injuries and no altercation between the kids involved. This kid has no priors, lives with both parents, and seems embarrassed by the whole thing.

What do you do?

Talking to the kids parents is a given, as is telling the kid that this kind of "joke" is not funny at all - nor something that is taken lightly in the post-Columbine world.

But what else?

Do you suspend the kid?
Call the police and have them investigate?
Schedule a meeting with the school counselor to figure out if this kid is dangerous or merely foolish?

Take a few seconds and think what you should do - as the responsible administrator of a public school.

Then relax - because apparently (at least in southern Illinois) you don't get to decide. School policy suspends the boy immediately and refers him to juve mental health. They take him and hold him for five days of observation, where he will be evaluated for possible treatment. If his parents object to his being treated - mental health officials can overrule them and treat him anyway.

Both of the kid's parents are deaf - so communication between the school, the mental health facility lags far behind the events on the ground.

[By now, you will have guessed - this is not a hypothetical. This is what is currently happening to the family of one of my colleagues]

The boy speaks to his hearing relatives by phone, who relay messages to his parents. He has not showered since his arrival at juve mental health - as group showers are a new and frightening thing for him.

No word on weather treatment will be administered - I would hope the probability would be low - but there's the open question of how five days of incarceration will alter the trajectory of this boy's life. How will he view himself ?- and how will he be labeled by his peers?

Think of all the stupid things you ever said in your adolescence - would you have ever believed that one of them could land you in a juve mental ward?

Messed up.