By Crystal Davila, WooJoo Han, Lauren Padilla, Marissa Palmer and Cynthia Tejeda
The Federal Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) was enacted in 1994 to promote safer schools by addressing issues of school violence. GFSA mandated that states implement rigid zero-tolerance policies for students who brought any type of weapon onto a school campus, which states amended to include infractions such as possessing drugs, cigarettes or alcohol. Â Further, the federal law did not require the local education agencies to provide alternative education to students who faced expulsion. GFSA has had far-reaching, and in many cases, devastating consequences on students. This includes the unintended use of this legislation to target “difficult students,” minority students and students with special needs with harsh penalties and removal from schools.
Research has shown that minority students are being suspended and expelled from schools in disproportionate numbers under this policy. Studies suggest that teachers’ interpretations of students’ behavior in the classroom greatly affects their rate of office referrals, which due to zero-tolerance policy, greatly increases their rate of suspension.
Schools are not required to explore the issue of intent when suspending or expelling students under the GFSA. Research has shown that students have been caught with weapons for a variety of reasons, as some students carry weapons to protect themselves from bullying or dangerous neighborhoods. Zero-tolerance does not work with youth to improve their psychological, economic, and social well-being. Instead, laws such as GFSA make it easier to criminalize students’ Â behavior and prepare them to enter the prison system, rather than provide intervention programs to improve their quality of life.
GFSA and the zero-tolerance policy imposed by school districts has led to greatly increased off-site suspensions and expulsions for students. Many states have laws that allow school and school districts to wash their hands of students determined to be in violation of this law, denying these students their right to an education. Consequently, this puts such students at higher risk for future problems, including poorer reading abilities and higher dropout rates. Young people without high-school diplomas also face higher risks of unemployment, lower paying jobs, drug and alcohol dependence and incarceration. When a youth drops out of high school and becomes involved with crime and drugs, the estimated cost to American taxpayers can be in the millions, compared to the few thousands it costs to educate them. Students that are denied an education and/or drop out of school as a result of zero-tolerance policies will no doubt suffer lifetime consequences that will have damaging effects on their families, communities and society at large.
Davila, Han, Padilla, Palmer and Tejeda are California State University, Long Beach students pursuing masters degrees in social work.
