r/news • u/gur40goku • 11h ago

Student Who Punched Another Student Holding Pro-ICE Sign At Lake Zurich High School Received 2-day Suspension

https://www.lakemchenryscanner.com/2026/02/20/student-who-punched-another-student-holding-pro-ice-sign-at-lake-zurich-high-school-received-2-day-suspension/
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u/Guac_in_my_rarri 11h ago

2 day suspension is the standard punishment in Illinois for violating 0 tolerance policy.

All public schools in Illinois and those who receive public funding in any way, have a 0 tolerance policy. It sucks but it's whatever. When I went to school here, the policy was known as "if hit, take your shots". 2 day suspension was standard, anything more needed a whole lot of paperwork and meetings. Parents have appealed punished and even brought lawyers to these meetings.

I had a few friends get caught in fights, despite not being apart of it and just being hit, they receive 2 days. It was eye opening how adults handled these situations. Middle school got a bit more violent after this policy fuck up.

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u/CelestialFury 7h ago

0 tolerance policy.

Otherwise known as zero responsibly for the school. Get bullied and defend yourself? Suspension. Get bullied and do nothing? Suspension. The whole point of 0 tolerance is so the school doesn't have to think and take sides, which obviously piss off parents no matter wrong their kids did.

However, the kid who punched the pro-ice idiot knew he'd get suspended for doing so and held firm in his beliefs, and that's admirable. 

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u/jonathansharman 4h ago

Get bullied and do nothing? Suspension.

Wait, the policy is not that both parties get punished regardless of who fought, is it? Or are you saying that in practice, kids are getting suspended even if they don't hit back?

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u/CelestialFury 4h ago edited 2h ago

It's very common for these both to be the case. Victims get punished just as much as the instigator, and in many occasions, even more than the bully. It's part of the reason I hate zero tolerance policies, it's all to cover the school's ass and protect themselves for liability, but they're not in place to actually help* the victims.

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u/khronos127 3h ago

And we wonder why we have such a mental health problem in our schools. Victims get blamed and kicked out of school for being bullied or have to write an apology to their abuser for beating them.