"As local schools continue to grapple with the issue of safety, John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute, a libertarian legal watchdog group based in Charlottesville, says that Charlottesville and Albemarle would do well to avoid strict crackdowns. The civil liberties attorney warns that harsh “zero-tolerance” rules can actually make schools more dangerous. These are some of the comments from Whitehead’s interview with C-VILLE last week.—John Borgmeyer

C-VILLE: Do kids in school have fewer civil liberties than adults?

John Whitehead: Yes, especially in the area of order and discipline. But it also depends on the political winds. Since Columbine, judges are very, very nervous.

How do you think schools should balance safety with civil liberties?

Get rid of zero-tolerance policies. Most of them are quite unjust. Kids who gargle mouthwash, for example, can get thrown out of school for violating the drinking policy. The schools should have a “no guns” and a “no drugs” policy, and they should set up mediation boards to look at the intent. Schools should look for the big things, like guns and cocaine, not fingernail clippers and laser pointers.

In general, schools need more free speech, more opportunities for students to dissent and express themselves strongly without getting punished. We’re bottling kids up too much these days.

How is the definition of “safety” changing in the schools?

The problem with the whole issue is that, since the mid 1990s, statistics show that schools are getting less violent. Society in general is less violent now. But since Columbine, the bar for “safety” has gone up so that it has become maniacal. The biggest problem in schools continues to be tardiness, absentees and fist fights. But when you look at the news, you think the world is coming apart. We live in a politically correct society with this overriding desire to smooth out the bumps, the dissidents, the kid with purple hair. I think it is overcompensating for the big violent things we see on the news." (C-Ville Weekly, April 18, 2006)