George,

Rob Bell's announcement for Paul Harris's seat in the General Assembly was a bit of a disappointment as there was nothing new in his list of "initiatives" including the zero tolerance policy for students.

On the one hand we , as a society, want everyone to play by the rules. On the other hand, when it comes to our children, we want them to be accepted for who they are, treated as the individual they are, excused from poor judgement when they bring a toy gun to school or accidentally have a kitchen knife in the front seat of her car or carry a pocket knife they got for their 13th birthday just like the one daddy always carries.

So Mr. Bell's proposal of zero tolerance is really just another of those 'feel good' things that sound good but mean nothing when it comes to 'my child'.

On another note about Mr. Bell's announcement. Am I the only one who finds it ironic that he made his announcement in front of a public school on public property and then proceeded to speak in favor of cutting taxes, thus making the "pie" of resources smaller for public education and calling for vouchers so parents can send their children to private school, thus further reducing an already decreased share of revenue for the public school.

I personally think this move on his part is hypocritical and indicates we could be in for more empty rhetoric that signifies nothing.

Martha Wood (electronic mail, May 23, 2001).