Sometimes, its an embarrassment living in Texas:
BEDFORD - Taylor Hess says the 10-inch bread knife found by a school security guard in the bed of his pickup was accidentally left behind from a box of personal belongings owned by his ailing grandmother.
But the knife could end up costing the 16-year-old honor student the rest of his junior year of high school. Hess was expelled from L.D. Bell High School two weeks ago under Texas' zero-tolerance weapons policy. An appeal is set for Thursday.
School officials have said their hands are tied by the policy, despite the student's claim that the knife was left by accident after he and his father boxed up his grandmother's linens, books and kitchenware to drop off at a Goodwill store.
His father said the policy is misguided and leaves no room for extenuating circumstances.
"Zero tolerance doesn't mean zero judgment or rights," Robert Hess said.
Gene Buinger, superintendent of the Hurst-Euless-Bedford School District near Dallas, said Tuesday that Hess' expulsion was mandated by the state education code.
"We're very limited in what we can do," Buinger said at a news conference. "I understand the public's frustration. I'm frustrated, too."
Hess is just one of many students across the nation to be expelled after violating zero-tolerance policies, which were created to prevent school violence and keep campuses safe.
Students have been punished for handing out mints to classmates, possessing a nail clipper and taking a plastic ax to a class Halloween party under these policies. Some have been arrested.
An 8-year-old boy in Jonesboro Ark., was suspended for three days after pointing a breaded chicken finger at a teacher and saying, "Pow, pow, pow."
Last year, the American Bar Association voted to recommend ending the policies, saying they are unfair and inappropriate for many children.
"Zero tolerance has become a one-size-fits-all solution to all the problems that schools confront," said a report accompanying the resolution.
The Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Adrienne Sobolak cautioned that the education code doesn't have the words "zero tolerance" written in the policy and said the local districts do have some discretion in determining punishment.
"Every case has to be looked at individually," she said. "People have to use their common sense and discretion to make any decision."
Buinger said school officials could shorten Hess' expulsion because the teen had a knife, not a gun.
For now, Hess is taking classes at a local alternative school. He faces the possibility of being placed in the Tarrant County Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program, although Hess hopes the appeal before district officials will allow him to return to Bell.