by Joe Kirkpatrick

In 1962, when I was in  7th grade, a "new math" was introduced.  Instead of addition, division, and etc,  everything was done by some confusing "base 2, base 3" and so forth.  After a few years, the gods of education must have decided it wasn't so good after all, and the "new math" became "old math" and it disappeared into educational never-never land.  At least I thought it had.

Last year I got wind the  Cleveland City School Board had adopted a new form of math into their  policies.  It seems really confusing to me, just like the first "new math" did back in 1962.  In the new math introduced into the city  schools, "0" doesn't equal "0."  Now, I'm not a great mathematician, so I contacted a CPA for their  opinion.  The CPA told me in the  world of accounting, "0" by itself can only mean "0." 

Okay, if you have stayed with me this long I've baited you enough.  Last year, I heard about an incident where a Cleveland High  School student pulled a knife, grabbed another  student from behind, and held the knife to the other student's throat.  According to witnesses, it was done  "horsing around" and not with malice.  However, according to school policy, they have a "zero

tolerance" policy about weapons even being brought onto school property, much less pulled out and held against another student's throat.  Well, several days went by and I was told the student was still in school, but was not allowed to come back to the band room where the incident happened for the remainder of the  semester.

My first thought was the  student who pulled the knife must be from an influential family that really had  some pull, as I remembered the city schools have a "zero tolerance" policy.  I started to call Dr. Denning and ask him about this incident, when my senses hit me and I thought "I better make sure  before I call and make an idiot out of myself."  Well, I went to the Cleveland City Board of Education website, and sure enough, I found policy code 6.309 which outlines descriptions of ZERO TOLERANCE OFFENSES.  ZERO TOLERANCE - that sounds like some  serious stuff.  "Zero" would  certainly bring me to believe it means "NO" tolerance.  Am I not correct?
BUT WAIT!!

Reading on down in the  body of the Cleveland City Board of Education's ZERO TOLERANCE OFFENSES, each offense  listed states the offender "shall be expelled for a period of not less than one  calendar year."  Boy - that sounds  tough - I mean, it doesn't get tougher or more clear than that - do one of these offenses, you are gone for a year - period!  That is, until you get to the last sentence of each offense, which states, "The director of schools shall have the  authority to modify this expulsion requirement on a case by case basis." 

That seems both fair and  compassionate, but that's also not "Zero Tolerance."  If fairness and compassion are to come into play, and each case is to be judged by its merits, the policy should not be  given the obviously misleading name of "Zero Tolerance!"  Hmm - maybe the board can work on a new  form of English next - maybe adopt a policy where "NO" means  "maybe?"