"Zero tolerance"...I am trotting it out right now. Zero tolerance is just another way of saying "I am a public school teacher/official and do not have a brain or ethic worthy of being trusted to make wise decisions."
Zero tolerance was put into place when public school liberals were treating violent offenders in the schools like liberal judges were treating violent offenders in the judical system system which resulted in mandatory sentencing guidelines.
Also, as you may recall, we had liberal race baiting in full force where race pimps claimed that more Black students were kicked out of school than Whites because teachers are racists. As a result, spinless principals were afraid to expel gang members, rapists, violent attackers and murderers for fear of being called a racist. Zero tolerance was a way to up the numbers of white boys kicked out of school for offenses such as posessing an axe in the trunk of a car left over from a boy scout presentation or drawing a picture of a gun...
Maybe it was also a way of saying, "We've got better things to do with our time & money than fight stupid lawsuits in courts, so we'll very publicly apply the same standards to everyone and let the chips fall where they may?"
Or maybe it was a way of saying, "We don't want to seem negligent if a Columbine-style incident occurs here, so we're going to be extremely pro-active."
Would you rather that your tax money be spent fighting the lawsuits filed by the NAACP, etc., asserting that the schools are racist or negligent?
"Zero tolerance was a way to up the numbers of white boys kicked out of school for offenses such as posessing an axe in the trunk of a car left over from a boy scout presentation or drawing a picture of a gun..."
When I was in high school a number of students (seniors, juniors old enough to drive) were also on the volunteer rescue squad. Some even had full crash kits in the trunks of their cars (well, maybe not jaws of life, the model the squad had at the time required a hydraulic power unit that was carried on the fire truck). Some were a bit goofs in school, but when the police radio sent a call out they were all business. These days carrying such a kit would likely land them in prison for weapons and drugs.
Of course back in those days no one played such petty games with the volunteer firemen and rescue squad. They were doing this on their own time, and you might need them someday. A rescue squad member may live on the same block, so if the call goes out at your address, the first arrival may be in less than a minute.