School Safety: 'Zero Tolerance' Policies Common Sense?

Nov. 12, 2009— -- Eighth-graders Cassandra and Aliyah Russell of Chicago never imagined they'd be arrested in their school cafeteria, much less for throwing food.

But that's just what happened following lunchtime mayhem last Thursday at the Perspectives Charter Middle School, south of Chicago. More than two dozen students, ages 11 to 15, were rounded up by police, arrested and charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct.

"They took us to jail, fingerprinted us, mugshotted us, or whatever, all because of a food fight...I was arrested. Handcuffs on," 13-year-old Cassandra told ABC News.

"We were suspended, went to jail and now have to go to court," said 14-year-old Aliyah.

The sisters' mother, Erica, told ABC News she's stunned.

"Who does that? Lock children up for throwing a carrot, a biscuit, milk, Jello," she said. "Who does that?"

The Russell sisters returned to school today after finishing a three-day suspension for their part in the food fight.

Watch the full report on "World News with Charles Gibson" tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET.

So, why weren't the students just given detention?

"The Chicago police officers who help protect our school, concerned about potential injuries resulting from the fight, felt it was necessary to arrest those responsible," the school said in a statement.

The high-performing Perspectives Charter Middle School sends 90 percent of its graduates to college. Its stated mission is to "provide students with a rigorous and relevant education, based on 'A Disciplined Life.'"

But with schools across the country on high alert for dangerous behavior, many parents are asking if their discipline policies -- particularly the zero tolerance approach -- may be going too far.

"You have police coming in and investigating and sometimes taking kids down to the police station -- grade-school children -- for what we used to call childish behavior," John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group, told ABC News.

"Zero tolerance" policies – widely adopted by schools across the country after the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 -- were initially designed to keep weapons out of schools.

Ten years later, the policies in many schools have expanded to include all sorts of disruptive behavior. Critics say treating major violations and minor infractions the same way defies common sense.