Ron, my point was that if the student said or sang what was described, we do not need to know all the facts in this case and that it would fit within a zero-tolerance policy. Within such a policy, it does NOT sound like over-reaction to suspend the student. A policy is a policy is a policy. The point of a policy is to be bound by the policy-- to apply it as written and as agreed by the policy-makers who had the legal right to make and apply the policy.

If you are saying that a zero-tolerance policy is not to your liking, I would refer you to teachers in your school district for further discussion of your school's policies and perhaps an opportunity to hear how school officials actually deal with threats in today's school environment.

Our society has taken things past the point when boys would be boys and girls would be girls. This is true not only in "tough" neighborhoods but in bucolic rural America, and pretty much everywhere in between. Schools have far more to deal with today than most people know.

~Susan