"No Tolerance", What It Means Now

I completely understand things are difficult for teachers today, but our elementary children are just that and they need recess, a break from the rigors of "No Child Left Behind", and school needs to be a happy place. There are times school reminds me more of a juvenile detention center than a primary school and it's sad. (Walk this way, don't talk at lunch, don't touch, don't speak, don't look, consequences for everything and anything).  While the need for "no tolerance" for guns, drugs, and bullying, is obvious, schools have moved on to what has turned into no tolerance for anything at all, including many ridiculously minute infractions, a difficult child, or a disability. This idea is getting national attention from experts, and unfortunately the parents of children with disabilities are some of the first to feel the negative impact of the expanded idea of "no tolerance".  Here is part of an article that exemplifies this problem, "In another school, a fifth grade student with autism was suspended. The reason - he drew a picture of the World Trade Center attack (a class assignment) and then grinned while showing it. The principal said the boy had committed "disruptive physical conduct or speech" and "communication of a threatening nature. When the principal asked the student why he did this, it is reported …he just looked at me and smiled. The principal's letter to the parents stated "This is totally inappropriate and (the student's) behavior has to change."  (The Counsel for Exceptional Children, the CEC, which can be found here:  http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/Conten...). 

Many of you may not understand Autism. I will have information about this disorder on my "What Is It" page soon, at Jordan's Advocate.com.  I hope you'll join me there.  To those who do understand the Autism spectrum, the injustice and tyranny of "no tolerance" for this child is clear.
It is my hope with the start of this school year, all elementary children will get recess in neighborhood schools, and if there is a child the school feels has "problems", the teacher will go the extra mile to try to figure out why (many "behavior problems" are caused by frustration from an undiagnosed disability, or the disability itself). As difficult as it is, teachers actually have a duty under The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the "Child Find Mandate", to find a child with a disability. I didn't write the law, only acknowledging it and school staff must do the same. I hope teachers will try to be a super hero for all small children put in their care, the one teacher each one of us will never forget.  For an excellent read on the subject of difficult children and their school experience, I suggest "Lost at School", by Dr. Ross Greene.  It will be a revelation to most who read it.  My eyes got big as I read the first chapter:)  Jeannine