As the results of the Knoxville City Council elections were being released last night, as I watched some of the social media posts, it was said that a male white student was in the bathroom at West High School with a gun, yesterday. His situation was handled differently than Anthony Thompson, Jr. at Austin East High School earlier this year.
I will be reaching out to the School District today to seek a comment and any details they can provide me about the incident. I realize I am likely to get zero information, cause if the student is under 18, it’s protected. He has due process to appeal any disciplinary hearings/decisions made.
However, this story took me back 20 years, when I was on the School Board. I supported ZERO TOLERANCE disciplinary standards. Sam Anderson and Dr. Paul Kelley led the effort to end zero tolerance, Because they wanted to keep kids in school. We had alternative disciplinary schools, the kids could go to.
I was criticized for my position then, because they said I didn’t understand. But what I did understand then and now, is zero tolerance administered justice equally. If what happened at West High School happened as I am told it did, it is not a fair and equal system.
I don’t have ALL or ANY of the answers today, tomorrow or in the future. I just wish every student could be treated the same regardless of their sex, skin color, community they live in and they should be treated fairly.
