This one is a classic. Student changed the shutdown message on a school computer so that instead of saying It is now safe to turn off your computer to If you turn me off I will blow up. The idiot school principal assumed there was a bomb in the computer. The student was arrested and ... pleaded guilty to making a false public alarm and was expelled from school. He missed the last four months of the school term and wasn’t readmitted the following school year. But, at least there is more attention being shined on the issue, and it looks like folks are starting to come around to some resemblance of rational thought. Experts: School officials may victimize children by using blanket policies.

The school board in Florida where the girl was arrested after a kitchen knife was found in her car is considering changing its policies to punish based on intent.

More talk about the idiocy that is zero-tolerance: Zero Common Sense. It is indefensible for them to argue that they can't afford to make exceptions, no matter what the extenuating circumstances, for fear of being accused of favoritism.

Zero Tolerance Produces A Foolish Educational Consistency. Right now, you make a mistake, and it's one punitive action after another. If you look at all the research, it says that the kids don't really learn from it. All they learn is to be bitter about it. I'll agree with that to the extent that we aren't talking serious crimes. I see no merit in giving murderers and rapists, even when they are children, chance after chance. [Update] Some Letter to the Editor follow-ups that support zero-tolerance