Since the 1999 Columbine tragedy, when two boys who were bullied committed the worst school shooting in U.S. history, numerous schools have implemented anti-bullying programs with uneven success. Others have used zero-tolerance discipline, resulting in children being suspended, expelled, and arrested for increasingly ridiculous reasons.
The Benson family of Colorado thinks it's time for a return to common-sense discipline. Author Louise Benson describes the family's ordeal with their son's persecution by Christian bullies in a Boulder County public charter school. She recounts the expulsion and bizarre felony charges pursued by the school and the police when the boy confided to a counselor thoughts of killing himself and the bullies. Shockingly, the school board did nothing when the Bensons submitted a formal complaint to the Boulder Valley School District, and a year later another student attempted suicide under similar circumstances.
How could this happen in liberal Boulder? The answer, revealed in Dr. Benson's fight for reform, is a mix of Colorado's red/blue politics and bureaucratic defensiveness. She also shows that many anti-bullying programs are outdated, and warns that charter schools may contribute to resegregation and intolerance. Scapegoating for Columbine: Collateral Damage in the War on School Violence details Dr. Benson' goal of a national reappraisal of the zero-tolerance policy.
