Per the school's zero tolerance policy, students who reveal alcohol or drug use are expelled at no risk to the school. I don't agree with their method but it is pretty simple.
I think a shocking consequence is students will now feel unsafe telling the truth about troubling events (abuse, etc.)
That would defeat the purpose of the survey.
I guess if there's a time for someone to learn the hard way when to keep private info private, high school is better than later.
Does that include crimes against minors?
That's the idea -- helping those students is a significant and easily ignored cost center.
Therefore, a student speaking in favor of 2nd Amendment rights or coming out sounding too "pro-gun" might find himself tagged for observation by the administration as an "extremist" or a potential threat.
A lot of people feel that they must fill in every value of every form "or else". While really, if you value your privacy you should ask if every value is really required.
And of course, it's very easy to lie accidentally: You may honestly be confused, mis-remember, make a mistake, or tell them a true fact that doesn't fit with incorrect information they obtained from another source. Especially under the stress of being suspected, investigated, arrested, etc.
Rule one of dealing with the police: Don't help them under any circumstances. Shut up and lawyer up immediately.
For more information, watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc
The video I linked discusses this very issue for a few minutes starting at 5:20.
At 6:55 he talks about how possession of a lobster can be illegal: "It doesn't matter if he's dead or alive. It doesn't matter if you killed it or it died of natural causes. It doesn't even matter if you acted in self defense! Did you know that? Did you know it could be a federal offense to be in possession of a lobster? Raise your hand if you did not know that. [audience raises hands] There's the problem!"
The whole video is witty and informative, and IMHO definitely worth watching.
It's pointless to argue this point, because the simple rule is, as you say, never to talk to the police, and have a lawyer and audio recorder if you do.
I'm not sure what the ramifications would be of a minor lying on a survey administered by school administrators. I doubt if students could be charged with a crime for lying under these circumstances, but I can envision other problems if students admitted to drug or alcohol use on a survey that identified them by name.
Probably not. The comment I replied to was saying that choosing to lie instead of self-incriminate is sometimes a crime, and I was elaborating on that.
> federal officials
This advice applies to state and local officials, too.
> I'm not sure what the ramifications would be of a minor lying on a survey administered by school administrators
Probably nothing.
> other problems if students admitted to drug or alcohol use on a survey that identified them by name.
Yes, if the survey results ever get out, they might later be used as evidence. Don't say it's not possible -- the police might find an excuse to subpoena the results and get a lax judge to sign off on it, and I seriously doubt that school officials would be willing to go to jail for their students by not complying. Or the results could be stolen, leaked, or hacked.
My school did something similar, but the surveys were anonymous and simply used for aggregate statistics - which sounds infinitely more effective than what this school is doing, anyway.
Weapons yielded suspension and automatic recommendation for expulsion. Administrators did not have to agree with the recommendation.
With that said, I don't like the "automatic recommendation for expulsion" parts of these policies. Even if administrators don't need to adhere to it, making it automatic is silly in the edge cases. I don't think it helps.
Other school districts can and have applied their codes of conduct to non-school related activities.
Granted it's not zero tolerance because he wasn't expelled.
I'm not, and never was, happy with the overreaching disciplinary actions taken by school systems. I think it tends to be reactionary and counter-productive. But your claims are still not accurate. While I disagree with the policies, and I think they are bad, they are as bad as your claims.
That's pretty close to what you say. Of course you set out an impossible claim of the school stating that it has "nothing to do with school." The argument from the school system in cases like these is roughly that out-of-school behavior has an impact on the school, so all behavior can be punished by the school system.