Describes community reaction to an elementary school principal's decision to suspend a boy for brandishing an unloaded pellet gun at a classmate. The aftermath stretched out for six months, and both the unabashed perpetrator and his traumatized victim transferred to other schools. Alternative crisis-management strategies are offered. (MLH)

In the five years since most states passed zero-tolerance legislation, results have been moderately successful. Such policies can work under four conditions: clear consequences for misbehavior, collaborative development by all stakeholding agencies, knowledge of other states' experience, and integration of sequential and comprehensive…