STEVE SMITH -- What’s Up

Comedian Will Rogers once said: “I don’t tell jokes. I just watch the

government and report the facts.”

On Tuesday, the Newport-Mesa school board voted 5 to 1 to incorporate bullying into their list of “zero-tolerance” policies, despite their

claims that violations would be determined on a case-by-case basis. This,

then, is a “less-than-zero-tolerance” policy.

With the passage of the new rules, it would appear that things are now

topsy-turvy. The lone dissenting vote in the 5-1 decision was cast by

Wendy Leece, everyone’s favorite censor, who argued that the new rules

would limit free speech. Yes, that is the same Wendy Leece who was just

accused of being a censor when she advised her colleagues to remove two

books from a suggested reading list at Newport Harbor High. And it is the

same board of education that agreed with her 2 1/2 years ago and decided

to ban a book from a reading list at Costa Mesa High.

So, what will it be, trustees? At one meeting we are approving at

least one book with morally bankrupt characters, and at the next we are

vowing to punish any student who calls another one a name equivalent to

morally bankrupt. I suppose that some labels are best seen but not heard.

The irony is so great that I doubt anyone who called Leece a censor

has the courage to place the same label upon her colleagues for doing far

worse.

For those of us who wish that more lawyers would join the Peace Corps,

these are difficult times. I am pleased that the American Bar Assn. has

taken a firm position against the bullying policy but disappointed that

their position fell short of the reality of the situation. I am also

pleased to note that at least one other Daily Pilot columnist has finally

found a school board policy with which to disagree.

The bar opposes the policy for the same reason Wendy Leece opposes it.

I, on the other hand, oppose it because of the hypocrisy it exposes. For

when it comes to determining student behavior on campus, the regular

rules do not apply. To believe otherwise is to drastically underestimate

the intelligence of our student body, always a dangerous undertaking.

The fundamental problem with blanket policies such as the new zero

tolerance against bullying is that the world outside the campus fences is

far too hypocritical for most students to take any of these decisions

seriously.

We want our kids to avoid premarital sex, but across the country there

is much resistance to teaching abstinence. Instead, we lower our

expectations and our standards and settle for what borders on begging

children to use a condom. Yet, our school board has just approved a

reading list for Newport Harbor High School that includes two books with

plenty of unmarried people having unprotected sex.

We ask kids in some schools to wear uniforms, yet many of our teachers

do not uphold a standard of dress that supports their position of

authority. When I suggested a dress code for teachers -- noting that it

was good enough for students -- I was roundly criticized.

We want kids to stop violent behavior, and we grieve over the murdered

at the nation’s shooting du jour. Yet our school board does not take even

a simple step, such as providing specific instructions to parents on how

to monitor and limit the amount of television our children are watching,

a position endorsed by the California Reading Assn. In case you missed

it, the U.S. Surgeon General reported two months ago that watching

television promotes violent behavior. It’s no longer a theory.

We preach to our children the tenets of fairness and democracy and the

price one will pay for a violation of the laws of the land. But two

months ago, our children witnessed, direct from the Oval Office, evidence

that there is another price to pay for complete exoneration and freedom.

And now we have the mother of all restrictions, a ban on bullying.

This time, however, in an effort to remove the threat of dozens of

lawsuits, each bullying incident will be heard at the school level and

decided on a case-by-case basis.

A wise policy, to be sure. So wise, in fact, one wonders why it is not

extended to the rest of the zero-tolerance policies against drugs,

alcohol and weapons, thus eliminating the possibility that, for example,

the first-grader who brings a butter knife to school to spread cream

cheese on his bagel will not be suspended as he should be according to

the strict interpretation of the rules.

Yes, we wonder as the facts are reported. But this time, no one is

laughing.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. Readers

may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (949) 642-6086.