For three weeks participants in a Seattle (Washington) seminar conducted an intensive review of school discipline problems that included a survey of all staff; a sample survey of students at three shcool levels; five community meetings; presentations by 61 individuals, agencies, or groups; a review of district statistics, practices, and…

This report contends that public school administrators no longer rely on literal interpretations of states' and districts' zero tolerance policies and overzealously promote safety, inventing creative interpretations of the laws and using them to suspend and expel children based on relatively minor offenses. Minority students are disproportionately…