School District Defends Strict Policy in Pot Case

Officials in the William S. Hart Union High School District reaffirmed their zero-tolerance policy Thursday in the case of Tyler Hagen, 13, who alerted his parents instead of school officials about marijuana on campus.

The seventh-grader at Arroyo Seco Junior High School said he thought he was doing the right thing last Friday when, agreeing to help a scared friend dispose of some marijuana, he turned it over to his parents, who in turn gave it to sheriff’s deputies.

By not going to school officials immediately, Tyler was found to have violated the district’s strict school policy on illegal drugs and was suspended for five days. The suspension started Monday, and it was not clear when or if Tyler would be allowed to return to Arroyo Seco.

“This is the wrong message being sent to children,” said Linda Hagen, Tyler’s mother. “They are told in DARE programs that if someone tries to sell them drugs to tell their parents, and he was punished for that.”

Hagen said she and her husband, Chris, plan to seek legal counsel to advise them of their son’s rights. “We plan to fight to get him reinstated in the school,” she said.

And Tyler said the incident will likely affect his reputation: “Everyone’s going to think I’m a crackhead or something.”

The case highlights the contentious debate over zero-tolerance policies and mirrors several other incidents at schools nationwide in recent years:

* A 10-year-old girl was suspended from her Mission Viejo elementary school after a toy cap gun on a key chain fell out of her backpack.

* 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.

* A seventh-grader in West Virginia was sent home for giving a zinc cough drop to a friend.

Advocates say zero-tolerance policies are necessary to protect students from drugs, alcohol, firearms and disruptive behavior on campuses. Hart district officials said that under school rules they had no choice but to punish Tyler.

“This district has a zero-tolerance policy,” said Michael von Buelow, assistant superintendent for personnel and student services.

Von Buelow said administrators at Arroyo Seco were discouraged by the public outcry that has erupted in the wake of Tyler’s suspension.

“They took action for good reason, and those reasons are being communicated very differently publicly,” he said.

“You do the right thing and you get criticized,” he added. “We want people to know there is much more to this story than we can let out at this time.”

Arroyo Seco Principal Jackie Snyder did not respond to telephone calls.

School policy stipulates that students caught selling drugs or having repeated possession offenses must appear before an expulsion panel composed of administrators from other schools, Von Buelow said.

First-time possession offenders, he said, must choose between a one-to-five-day suspension or mandatory attendance in a school-based drug and alcohol awareness class.

“The boy [Tyler] was given a choice: either a suspension or the program that could serve in lieu of suspension, and that was turned down,” he said.

Opponents of zero-tolerance rules say the absolutist philosophy does not allow for mitigating factors.

“That is the stupidity side of zero tolerance; it means at the same time you have zero options,” said Peter Blauvelt, president of the National Alliance of Safe Schools, a nonprofit consulting group run by former school security directors in College Park, Md.

Asked what he would do if someone again approaches him with drugs, Tyler said, “Walk away.”