Pubdate: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 Source: Standard-Times (MA) Copyright: 1999 The Standard-Times Contact: http://www.s-t.com/ Author: Robin Estrin CASE SHOWS LEGAL PROBLEMS WITH 'ZERO TOLERENCE' BOSTON -- Like their counterparts in many other school districts, officials in Easthampton wanted to show local students that they wouldn't take drug use lightly. So several years ago, they enacted a "zero tolerance" policy. Those caught with drugs would be kicked out. It didn't quite work as planned. Now, the town is paying undisclosed settlements to four students who sued after being expelled for marijuana possession. The case raises questions about the conflicts between schools' desire to be tough, and students' rights to education and due process. Under the 1993 Education Reform Act, drug use and possession is one of several serious offenses for which students can be expelled from school. The law, however, requires that students be allowed to have their say. Expulsion can range from 11 days to banishment from school for good. "You can't say expelled automatically. That's an oxymoron," said Peter Sack, principal of Swampscott High School. "Expulsion by definition requires a hearing." The problem in Easthampton dates back to April 1997, when five students -- three seniors and two juniors -- were expelled for alleged marijuana possession during a school trip to Canada. A school policy called for automatic dismissal for drug possession at school or school-related functions. Four of the students sued, in two different courts. Hampshire Superior Court Judge Wendie Gershengorn reinstated the students and later ruled that the school committee did not have the authority to draft a policy calling for automatic expulsion. She said the Education Reform Act was designed to have school principals dole out punishments on a case-by-case basis. If the settlements had not been made, the courts would have had to decide whether the students' civil rights had been violated. "Unfortunately schools tend to be run by educators and not by lawyers, so chances are we are going to make mistakes with that judicial process," said John Cullinan, who took over as Easthampton's superintendent last summer. The town must now pay undisclosed amounts to the four students who sued. "Zero tolerance policies strike me as being completely absurd," said Holyoke lawyer Geri Laventis, who represented one of the juniors. "To me, what it does is it just says that you're not going to get a chance at all." More and more districts are enacting such policies, although it's unclear how many, said Peter Finn, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. For school administrators, it isn't an easy decision to expel a child caught with drugs. On the one hand, principals and superintendents want to protect the other children from a student who is using or distributing illegal substances. On the other hand, said Wayne Ogden, principal of Duxbury High School, "If I expel a kid, and especially in a case of a student without financial means, I may have given him an educational death sentence in the commonwealth of Massachusetts." Under state law, a public school may refuse to admit a student who has been expelled from another school or district. There is a loophole, however. A suspended student who is facing expulsion can withdraw from school before a more severe punishment is administered and enroll elsewhere. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea