When a second teenager committed suicide after being suspended from school within two years, Fairfax County supervisors unanimously decided to step in and question public school officials about their “zero tolerance” disciplinary policies. Such an outside review is long overdue. On Jan. 20, 15-year-old W.T. Woodson High School football player Nick Stuban committed suicide after being suspended and recommended for expulsion for purchasing a legal substance that mimicked the effects of marijuana. In March 2009, Josh Anderson, a 17-year-old football player at South Lakes High School, killed himself two days before his second disciplinary hearing for smoking marijuana.

Fairfax County School Superintendent Jack Dale denies his school system enforces a “zero tolerance” policy, insisting that all 683 students recommended for expulsion were considered on an individual, case-by-case basis. But the harsh punishment Stuban received was far out of proportion to his first offense – particularly since no controlled substances were ever found on him or his belongings. The emotional trauma of having to perform tracheal suctioning on his mother, who is dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease, should also have been taken into account.