The problem is exactly the opposite of authoritarianism. People don't believe that any person can be trusted with authority, so it was all transferred into the

The problem is exactly the opposite of authoritarianism. People don't believe that any person can be trusted with authority, so it was all transferred into the dead letter of a massively generalized district-wide policy which, of course, says "anything bad is bad and should be punished". Administrators and teachers have very little leeway to ascertain circumstances, utilize context, or employ personal judgment. They feel obliged to follow the letter of the policy because they have no authority. A little more "authoritarianism" -- trust that the authorities positioned to ascertain the facts will do so competently and shouldn't be trivially second-guessed -- would probably help a lot.