Story Archive

Zero Tolerance for Innocence

“The [School] Board has a ‘zero tolerance’ of violent, disruptive, harassing, intimidating, bullying, or any other inappropriate behavior by its students,” Ohio’s Edgewood City Schools Superintendent Russ Fussnecker said in a written statement. Zachary Bowlin, a 13-year-old student at Edgewood Middle School in Trenton, was suspended for 10 days, with possibility for expulsion. His infraction, according to a notice sent to his parents, was “Liking a post on social media that indicated potential school violence.” The post was a picture of a “airsoft” gun: the boy’s parents let him play with them, and he clicked “Like” on it, from home, not during school hours. When he arrived at school the next day, he was searched for weapons and suspended, even though none were found, and school officials sent out an email about the “alleged threat” to all parents, even though no one made any threat whatsoever. “He never shared, he never commented, he never made a threatening post,” says his father, Marty Bowlin. After an uproar, including pushback from the “livid” father, the school backed off, erasing the suspension from Zachary’s record. Fussnecker explained that “regardless of the kind of gun it is, it’s a gun,” and “until I can get to an investigation, I have to look into it, those students have to be removed.” (RC/WLWT Cincinnati, WXIX Cincinnati) ...Fussnecker should be suspended without pay for obliviocy. District parents led by Mr. Bowlin can “investigate” him when they can get to it.