Zero Tolerance policies have been a source of great frustration for me, as by their very definition they remove any possibility of discretion, extenuating circumstances, etc. Since your link appears to be broken (perhaps the article was deleted?) I will comment in general rather than on that specific story.

Here are just a few examples I have heard about where these policies hurt children for no good reason:

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A 13 year old girl was suspended and forced to go to mandatory drug counseling after being caught with a single Tylenol pill given to her by another student for her headache.

A 14 year old boy puts his hand in his pocket and realizes he accidentally left his Swiss Army knife in his jacked after weekend scout activities. He immediately goes to the school office before class to voluntarily turn it in. He was promptly suspended for 10 days for violating the Zero Tolerance Weapons policy. If I remember correctly, earlier stories said that this was an honor student without a troublesome history.

Preschoolers and kindergartners have been suspended for having tiny unrealistic toy guns as accessories to dolls and action figures. (They have also been hassled by the T.S.A. for this at airports.)

Very young children have been suspended for using their index finger and thumb to make a gun-like hand gesture (violation of Zero Tolerance policy for Weapons and Violence).

A 15 year old honor student defended himself after being called a racial slur, pushed and punched in the face. He threw a single punch in self defense, and broke the bully's nose. He was charged with assault, suspended from school and sent a letter informing him he would be banned from attending local schools in that district. The attacker/bully was not charged with a crime.
http://www.globecampus.ca/in-the-news/article/black-belt-teen-strikes-back-at-bully-and-rallies-community-against-racism/

(After the 400 students protested for days, the expulsion was revoked, the criminal charges were eventually dropped and the student was allowed to return to school at the end of his suspension.)

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School administrators need to exercise of a modicum of common sense rather than adopt Zero Tolerance policies. Kids should be able to pop a Tylenol without asking the school for permission. A Boy Scout's Swiss Army knife shouldn't be treated as a terrorist device. If a bully tries to beat up another child, that victim has the right to act in their own defense, no matter what some stupid rule may say. A five year old's thumb and index finger is not, never has been and never will be a firearm and should not be treated as such.

I was overjoyed to hear that not all schools are taking this crazy Zero Tolerance approach to everything. The school in this story teaches its middle school students to fight back if a gunman attacks their school in a Columbine style attack:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15253321/

If kids were taught from an early age that self defense is a sacred right there would be a lot fewer victims in the world. Instead, Zero Tolerance policies are teaching most of them to be unprepared for emergencies and behave as sheep at the slaughter when they are threatened. "Zero Tolerance" means never, under any circumstance, no matter what the reason. I find it horrifying to teach children that it is NEVER acceptable to defend themselves or that simple tools like knives so so incredibly dangerous as to not be tolerated by society. I'd much rather have kids learn a "be prepared" ethic, beat up bullies that attack them and carry a Swiss Army knife or multi-tool to fix things when they break.
Source(s):
http://www.wvec.com/news/local/stories/wvec_local_050407_tylenol.39595d6a.h...
http://www.finlandforthought.net/2006/04/04/boy-turns-in-knife-but-may-stil...
http://www.globecampus.ca/in-the-news/article/black-belt-teen-strikes-back-...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15253321/

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