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Discipline Policies Stir Debate
RALEIGH — “Zero-tolerance” policies are popular with parents, to a point. They seem to promise safer schools, ones where learning can actually take place. But some parents are rethinking the one- size-fits-all approach to discipline. Recent events in Clay and Wautauga counties reflect some of the hazards inherent in enforcing disciplinary policies. A Clay principal is facing misdemeanor child-abuse charges connected with bruises to a 10-year-old boy that are alleged to be the result of a paddling the student received — with his mother’s permission — in school. In Watauga, the school board intervened in a case that concerns high school students who violated the school’s dress code.
