Contemporary Issues PaperZero tolerance has become the latest contemporary educational issue for the Christian school leader. Zero tolerance policies impose predetermined consequences for specific infractions. According to a government study, more than three-quarters of all U.S. schools reported having a zero-tolerance policy (Holloway, 2002). Systematic guidelines for implementing zero tolerance require education officials to impose a predetermined punishment, regardless of individual culpability or mitigating circumstances (Gorman & Pauken, 2003). Ethical decision-making and the ability to apply biblical principles have taken a back seat to the reactive discipline of school leaders. Societal expectations have forced proactive educational leaders to become impulsive decision-makers.Legal ExpectationsZero tolerance is a policy that imposes predetermined, severe consequences for specific infractions with the goal of viewing all violators equally (Fries and DeMitchell, 2007). Zero tolerance began as a congressional initiative to control drugs, guns and violent behavior in the early 1980s and was well known across the country by 1988. It can be traced to the federal Safe Schools Act. Weapons of 1994. The Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994. 1994 requires states to pass a law requiring schools to suspend students who possess a weapon on school grounds. Students who violate this law are suspended for one school year and admitted to the juvenile justice system (Stader, 2004). The Gun-Free Schools Act allows school principals to modify the expulsion requirement on a case-by-case basis, allowing states to pass their own laws. Zero tolerance policies in most states include the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994, as well as gang activity...... middle of paper ......Classroom Viewpoints. Journal of Law and Education, 36. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from ProQuest database. Garbarino, J., Dubrow, N., Kostelny, K. and Pardo, C. (1992). Children in danger. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Jobe, D.A. (2003). Helping girls succeed. Educational leadership, 60(4), 66.Henault, C. (2001). Zero tolerance in schools. Journal of Law and Education, 30. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from ProQuest database. Holloway, J. H. (2002). The zero tolerance dilemma. Educational leadership. 59(4), 85. Ma, X. & Willms, J.D. (2004). School disciplinary climate: characteristics and effects on success in eighth grade. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 50(2), 169-188. Stader, D.L. (2004). Zero tolerance as public policy: the good, the bad and the ugly. The Clearing House, 78. Retrieved December 2, 2011 from ProQuest database..