Zero Tolerance Revisited

I hope you will be impressed.  Last night I wrote about the absolute stupidity of “zero tolerance” policies.  Today a New York Times front page headline read:  “Seeing the Toll, Schools Revise Zero Tolerance.”

The article discusses changes in school policy in such places as L.A., Baltimore, Chicago, and Denver.  Instead of kicking kids out of school and putting them into the streets, schools are now using counseling and special help.  Incidentally, 70% of the kids getting kicked out are black or Hispanic.

Which brings us to my attempt to provide a small portion of the bail requirement for the 18-year-old now in county jail for taking an air rifle to the Jim Thorpe High School last week for the purpose of impressing a girl.  Bail has been set at $100,000.   I thought it would be fairly simple--find out the name of the parents, make my offer, and congratulate myself for being a bleeding-heart liberal do-gooder.

Didn’t happen.  I called the County District Attorney’s office, who said Magistrate Lewis was handling the case.  I called that office, and was told yes, the student was in jail, did not have an attorney, and they couldn’t tell me anything about the case because of privacy requirements.  They referred me to the Jim Thorpe Police Department.  The officer was polite and apologized for being short with me, but said he could not legally give me information.  He referred me to the Jim Thorpe School District.  That got me to Superintendent Conway, who was most helpful.  

Ms. Conway told me that the student did not have parents in Carbon County but was under the care of a social service agency known as Child First.  I called my friend Kara for help, and she suggested I try Carbon County Juvenile Probation.  The director explained that since the student was 18, it was not a juvenile case, but did give me the number of Child First.  The woman there told me this was a referral from Philadelphia.  She called the Philly agency, and they gave her permission to call me back to let me know the student did have a case worker and would receive legal help.  The hearing will be later this month, and presumably the attorney will ask for a reduction in bail.  

Since I’ve gone this far, I will try to attend the hearing if it is open to the public.  Since I am neither attorney or relative, I don’t know if that will be possible.  In the meantime, an 18-year-old high school student who made a really dumb decision will remain in jail.