Individuals charged with a drug crime can face harsher penalties if the crime was committed in a drug-free school zone. This also means that students can face up to a year-long suspension from school if charged with a drug crime that occurred on their school's property.

School districts can use their own discretion in some circumstances, but Tennessee's zero-tolerance law recommends that students be expelled from school for a minimum of one calendar year if the student is caught with drugs or guns at school, or if the student has been charged with assault.

The policy stems from the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 that required school officials to expel students for bringing guns on school property. Now many states apply the policy to drug offenses and other violent offenses on school properties. However, some believe that Tennessee's zero-tolerance policy may be too harsh in some cases and is preventing students from being able to graduate from high school because of one mistake.

Metro Nashville Public Schools have been working on a new drug prevention and intervention program to discipline students caught with drugs on a case-by-case basis instead of automatically applying the state's zero-tolerance policy. Metro's effort hopes to keep more students in school and on track for graduation. "We don't want the mark left in their memory from 13 years in school that 'I made a mistake and never got to wear a cap and gown,'" said the principal of Hunters Lane High School in Nashville.

The drug prevention and intervention program would allow some students who are caught with drugs on school property to participate in a special program, reducing the amount of time of their suspension under the zero-tolerance policy. Students would have the opportunity to take a 15-20 day suspension but they would be required to attend two four-hour drug awareness counseling sessions. Students would also be on probation for a certain length of time.

One student who recently benefited from the new program acknowledges that he wouldn't be graduating this year if it wasn't for school officials giving him a second chance. The high school senior was caught smoking marijuana on his school's property in the beginning of the academic year. If the zero-tolerance policy had been enforced in his case, he would not be starting college this fall with the possibility of playing football.

Source

The Tennessean: "More schools ease zero-tolerance policies on drugs," Julie Hubbard, 15 May 2011