More Ammo in ‘Zero Tolerance’ Debate

In a case that highlights the heated debate over strict school policies on firearms, a 10-year-old girl was suspended Thursday for bringing a three-inch cap-gun toy on a key chain to her Mission Viejo school.

The toy was discovered Wednesday when it fell out of the third-grader’s backpack during class at Viejo Elementary School. School officials said Lacey Gregory violated the Capistrano Unified School District’s ban on imitation firearms and that her one-day suspension was actually lenient punishment for such an offense.

But others, including Lacey’s mother, complained that the district’s action was excessive and one more example of how various zero-tolerance-type policies have gone too far.

“I just can’t believe kids are being suspended for stuff like that,” said Jaydell Gregory, the girl’s mother. “I do believe we need rules and regulations. Kids can’t be bringing BB guns to school. But a little kid, who wasn’t even playing with it, on a key chain, that’s just over the top.”

The Mission Viejo case mirrors dozens of others that have drawn attention to similarly strict policies over the last few years. In one, a Buena Park 5-year-old was transferred to another school after bringing on campus a disposable razor blade he found at a bus stop.

In another, a 12-year-old boy was expelled from a Corona school for possessing folding fingernail clippers. The Riverside County Board of Education later overturned the expulsion.

Cases like these have helped draw battle lines over the issue of how to keep campuses free of weapons.

Advocates of the strict rules say they reinforce that any kind of weapon is forbidden on campus and ultimately make schools safer. Officials at Viejo Elementary School said they had no choice but to discipline Lacey after other students saw the toy, adding they needed to make an example out of her.

“If she had had this particular item in her backpack and not in view, nothing would have been done because no one would have known about it,” Principal Patricia Griggs said.

But opponents say that is precisely why the rules fly in the face of common sense--because they fail to discriminate between cases that deserve severe punishment and cases that don’t. The laws, they say, snare model students who inadvertently break the rules and misbehaving ones alike.

“We’ve always had the right to expel a student who brings a loaded Uzi into school,” said Veronica Norris, a Tustin attorney who handles cases involving these rules. “I have seen far more harm come to families and children from this law than I have seen protection come to schools.”

Some school districts have recently ratcheted their policies down a notch. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District, for example, decided just over a year ago to drop rules requiring automatic expulsion to young students who bring gun-like objects to school. Instead, principals now decide discipline on a case-by-case basis for students from kindergarten through third grade.

But even at a Newport-Mesa Unified school, Lacey would have been suspended, said Mike Murphy, who oversees zero-tolerance policies at the district.

“Some people might say, ‘My gosh, this is a little cap gun,’ ” he said, “but where do you draw the line?”

The state has already drawn the line for some zero-tolerance rules, insisting that students who brandish real weapons, sell drugs or commit sexual assault be expelled.

Many other districts, such as Capistrano, however, have gone a step further and added other offenses to the list. Capistrano mandates expulsion for students who are caught using or in possession of drugs or alcohol.

According to the district’s disciplinary policies, possessing imitation firearms does not fall under its “zero tolerance” rules, but the principal or superintendent could have recommended that Lacey be expelled.

Lacey, who boasts a small collection of key chains, said she was pulling her lunch from her backpack when the key chain accidentally slipped out. A student quickly alerted the teacher and within minutes, Lacey was called to the principal’s office, she said.

The metal toy looked “very real,” said Principal Griggs, despite measuring only about three inches. She added that Lacey is a well-behaved student, but officials had to punish her because she broke school rules. The suspension will remain on her school record through high school, Griggs said.

Reactions among Viejo parents to the suspension were mixed on Thursday.

“I don’t think it’s a reason to suspend,” said Zandra Ku, 29, whose son is a kindergartner at Viejo Elementary School. “Maybe if it were a real gun, but not a key chain. I think they’ve gone too far this time.”

But others said they liked strict enforcement of the policy.

“I’m not crazy about the school rules, but I understand how they’re trying to make it really tight,” said Patty Miller, 39, whose son attends Viejo. “I’d prefer they be obnoxiously ridiculous than loose and take risks with my kids.”

As for Lacey, the outrage she feels at having been punished seems to have clouded the message school officials wanted to send.

“I learned that I’m never going to take one of these to school again,” Lacey said, before pausing. “Or if I do, I’m going to hide it really, really good in my backpack.”