‘Zero tolerance’ needs improvements

The Mat-Su Borough School District has a “zero tolerance” policy for bullying, discrimination and harassment.

The school district defines harassment in it’s student handbook as “behavior which is intended to trouble or annoy someone” and “the exertion of power by one person over another.” Similarly, bullying is described as “aggressive behavior that is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power or strength.”

Article 13, Section C, of the handbook details what looks like an all-encompassing list of unacceptable behavior on school grounds.

We are concerned about a lack of uniformity what happens after students violate school rules. When a student’s behavior requires more than discipline and law enforcement is involved, we expect to be notified — every time, without exception.

For example, about a month ago, we wrote about an 11-year-old elementary school student who “lunged” at a staff member with a pocketknife at school. No one was injured, and staff retrieved the knife and detained the boy.

But state troopers were called and responded to the scene. The child was released to his father. The incident was included the next day in the Alaska State Trooper dispatch statements and we reported it.

That’s not at all what happened a week later when we received an anonymous tip about a hazing incident involving two high school students — one a freshman, one a junior and both under 18. The older student snuck up on the younger one in the locker room after school, placed a plastic bag over his head, and held it there while a third person photographed the scene.

These photos were posted to social media for two days before school staff found out about the incident and the photos were taken down. Troopers were called, but the incident never showed up in trooper dispatches. When asked about its outcome, a trooper spokeswoman said she had no further information.

We were stymied after district officials said they couldn’t even tell us if either student was disciplined for the incident.

Then last week, Palmer Police told us they had to respond to a prank set by a 23-year-old Job Corps student. During a Mat-Su Borough Emergency Services drill, a student walked into the gym wearing a black ski mask and deposited an open container of unidentified white powder on the floor. The student thought he would make the hazardous materials drill “more realistic,” school officials said.

Police discussed charging the 23-year-old with “terroristic threatening,” though no decisions have been made to our knowledge. When called later in the week, the District Attorney’s office said they were not familiar with the incident.

While the Alaska Job Corps is not part of the Mat-Su Borough School District, it also has “zero tolerance” policy.

We understand the notion of “zero tolerance,” but we are unclear why the information released about such student misconduct varies so widely.

If by “zero tolerance” we really mean we do not tolerate bullying or harassment in our school system, then we do not tolerate it by any student and all students who transgress receive equal punishment. Police and school staff must hold all students equally accountable to their community when they transgress. A 17-year-old preparing to apply for college and scholarships shouldn’t receive preferential treatment over an elementary school student.

When police are called to respond to our schools, the process for reporting that information to the media should be uniform. No student should get a pass on dangerous behavior that puts others at risk.