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ACLU-NJ Challenges School's Severe Zero Tolerance Policy

For Immediate Release
March 9, 2009

NEWARK - The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed a lawsuit today challenging the suspension of a student for over-the-counter medication in Pinelands Regional School District, an egregious application of its "zero tolerance" policy.

"This case illustrates why zero tolerance policies make zero sense," said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs. "In New Jersey and across the country, we have seen good students suspended or expelled for minor infractions. Zero tolerance policies serve no one - not parents, not teachers and not students."

The ACLU-NJ's client, known as P.P. to protect his identity, was suspended when a search of his locker uncovered an expired over-the-counter allergy pill in his backpack. P.P., an honors student who volunteers in the town's library and had never been in trouble before, was suspended for five days, which the administration said was required under the school's policy of "zero tolerance."

School officials pointed specifically to their policy barring possession of an "illegal or dangerous item, product, or commodity," but school officials failed to explain why the non-prescription Alavert allergy tablet was either dangerous or illegal.

"Discretion was built into the law for a good reason - every situation is different," said Frank Corrado, of Barry, Corrado, Grassi & Gibson, who represents P.P. for the ACLU-NJ. "Don't our children deserve to have the full circumstances taken into consideration before taking away their educational opportunities as punishment?"

Like other school districts across the country that adhere to a policy of "zero tolerance" without discretion, Pinelands Regional's policy violates due process rights. But Pinelands Regional also violates New Jersey's laws governing student discipline, which give schools authority to automatically suspend or expel students only if their offenses involve firearms, assaults with weapons or assaults on employees. Everything else requires school officials to make case-by-case decisions, depending on the severity of an offense, the age of the student and the student's history.

"The punishment absolutely does not fit the crime, especially because no crime has been committed," said the mother of the student. "I understand that students need to be punished when they break the rules. But what can parents do when the rules are too strict?"

The ACLU-NJ has wrangled before with discipline issues in the Pinelands Regional School District. In 2004, amid racial tensions in Pinelands Regional High School, the administration threatened about forty students with suspension if they continued to wear anti-racism shirts bearing the message "If I was. . ." on the front, and the name of a minority group (e.g.Asian, gay, black) followed by the words, "Would you still be friends with me? We are all different. End the Hate," on the back.

Two students wore the shirts the day after the administration's threat and refused to take them off when asked, resulting in a three-day suspension. After the ACLU-NJ wrote a letter to the school, the administration promised not to punish any more students, to promote diversity and to expunge the records of the suspended students.

The case was filed in state court in Ocean County and is captioned P.P. v. Board of Education of Pinelands Regional School District.