The Problem Carterville Unied School District was located in the center of town. Drawing its student population from areas outside of Carterville, the school district was composed of various ethnic groups from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds at every grade level. Parents living in Littletown enrolled their children in Rancho Elementary School and considered Rancho to be the best elementary school in the district. Under the direction of the district superintendent and school board, the school district adopted a zero-tolerance policy that applied to all of the schools in the district. The policy included zero tolerance for truancies from school, for weapons of any kind, for physical assaults, and for sexual harassment. The district's superintendent advised all the site administrators in the district to include the zero-tolerance policy in their respective school plans. He directed principals at each school site to distribute copies of the revised school plans to the parents of every student at each school site. As the principal of Rancho Elementary, you appointed one of the fth-grade teachers, Ms. Idleman, to be in charge of developing the school plan. She was one of the lead teachers at the school, and she had just completed a program that qualied her to become a school administrator. You reminded her to include the zero-tolerance policy in the school plan, although it was your opinion that students at Rancho Elementary would not be inclined to violate the zero-tolerance policy. On the day Ms. ldleman's committee completed the school plan and forwarded it to your ofce for approval, you were attending a conference away from school. In your absence, Ms. Boxer, the assistant principal, who was a tenured employee in the district, was in charge. She served on the school plan committee that Ms. ldleman chaired. 0n the same day you were absent, your administrative assistant informed Ms. Boxer that the school plan had been completed and that it had been forwarded to your ofce for approval. Ms. Boxer was condent that the document would meet with your approval and approved the plan in your absence. She instructed the school clerk to duplicate the school plan and send a copy home with each one of the students at the end of the school day. A few days later, Ms. ldleman was teaching a unit to her students that focused on historical structures in Littletown. She developed a lesson plan that required the students to conduct research on Littletown and prepare reports that were to be presented to the class. Becky Skutter was the last student to present her report to the class. Following her presentation, Becky reached for a paper bag that she had brought with her and removed what looked like an old handgun. She informed the class that her father had found the item in the attic when he was renovating their Victorian home. Becky's father believed the pistol was from the 19th century and was brought over from England at the turn of the century. When Ms. ldlem an saw the pistol, she quietly instructed Becky to place the item back in the paper bag and hand it over to her. Ms. ldleman informed Becky that she would return the handgun to her at the end of the school day. As promised, Ms. Idleman returned the pistol to Becky and instructed her to keep the pistol in the paper bag and return it to her father. Becky received an \"A\" grade for her report. On the following day, one of the parents of a student in Ms. Idleman's class contacted you and demanded that something be done with the student who brought the gun to school. The parent was angry and said that she planned to contact the superintendent, the local newspaper, and other parents of the children in Ms. Idleman's class to see if any of the other children had nightmares like her daughter had after seeing the weapon at school