Scapegoating for Columbine: Collateral Damage in the War on School Violence Book

Since the 1999 Columbine tragedy, when two boys who were bullied committed the worst school shooting in U.S. history, numerous schools have implemented anti-bullying programs with uneven success. Others have used zero-tolerance discipline, resulting in children being suspended, expelled, and arrested for increasingly ridiculous reasons.

The Benson family of Colorado thinks it's time for a return to common-sense discipline. Author Louise Benson describes the family's ordeal with their son's persecution by Christian bullies in a Boulder County public charter school. She recounts the expulsion and bizarre felony charges pursued by the school and the police when the boy confided to a counselor thoughts of killing himself and the bullies. Shockingly, the school board did nothing when the Bensons submitted a formal complaint to the Boulder Valley School District, and a year later another student attempted suicide under similar circumstances.

How could this happen in liberal Boulder? The answer, revealed in Dr. Benson's fight for reform, is a mix of Colorado's red/blue politics and bureaucratic defensiveness. She also shows that many anti-bullying programs are outdated, and warns that charter schools may contribute to resegregation and intolerance. Scapegoating for Columbine: Collateral Damage in the War on School Violence details Dr. Benson' goal of a national reappraisal of the zero-tolerance policy.