The Problem Carterville Unified School District

The Problem Carterville Unified School District was located in the center of town. Drawing its student population from areas outside of Carterville, the school district was composed of various ethnic groups from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds at every grade level.

Parents living in Littletown enrolled their children in Rancho Elementary School and considered Rancho to be the best elementary school in the district. Under the direction of the district superintendent and school board, the school district adopted a zero-tolerance policy that applied to all of the schools in the district. The policy included zero tolerance for truancies from school, for weapons of any kind, for physical assaults, and for sexual harassment.

The district’s superintendent advised all the site administrators in the district to include the zero-tolerance policy in their respective school plans. He directed principals at each school site to distribute copies of the revised school plans to the parents of every student at each school site.

As the principal of Rancho Elementary, you appointed one of the fifth-grade teachers, Ms. Idleman, to be in charge of developing the school plan. She was one of the lead teachers at the school, and she had just completed a program that qualified her to become a school administrator. You reminded her to include the zero-tolerance policy in the school plan, although it was