Student suspended for telling the truth

As reported in Zero Intelligence Addison Ryan, a 10th grade student at North Mecklenburg High School in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg School District was suspended for telling the truth. Deb Ryan, Addison's mother, reports that on December 17th there was a "Code Green" fire drill at the school. A classmate asked what a Code Green was.

My son replied, "It's a bomb threat", speculating on the cause of the drill believing that to be the case. A teacher overheard his response and filled out a disciplinary referral form from which he was charged with making a False Warning and immediately dismissed from school.

He was immediately suspended from school pending a disciplinary hearing. Punishment for giving a false alarm is a minimum of long term suspension and a maximum of expulsion. This occurred during exam preparation time. The disciplinary hearing could take up to three days, encompassing not only the review but the exams themselves.

The Ryans got help from the Children's Law Center, a non-profit firm in Charlotte. Their lawyers were able to make a plea deal with the school to return Addison to class after a two day suspension for "disruptive behavior" (of an earlier incident that had not been severe enough for discipline when it happened but now that they needed an excuse it was big enough to warrant a two day suspension.

Zero tolerance equals zero intelligence.