The Center for Public Integrity obtained data showing that officers the nation’s largest school police force issued the equivalent of 28 tickets every day to students in 2011. Judge Michael Nash, who presides over Los Angeles’ juvenile courts, believes incidents should be handled in schools or through counselings or meetings with parents outside court. This ... Read More
San Francisco Chief of Police Gregory Suhr recently submitted a letter to the editor in the San Francisco Examiner on school discipline and restorative practices entitled, Making Kids Feel Safe Keeps Them in School. In the article, Suhr refers to studies which show that “kids who stay in school live ten years longer and make ... Read More
Students United to Create a Climate of Engagement , Support and Safety (S.U.C.C.E.S.S.) empowers students to partner with schools and communities to develop comprehensive and sustainable strategies for engagement, support, and safety at school. Over the last year, youth and adults have partnered through S.U.C.C.E.S.S. to develop strategies that promote a safe and participatory school ... Read More
The High HOPES (Healing Over the Punishment of Expulsions and Suspensions) Campaign, a Chicago-based campaign which aims to reduce suspensions and expulsions by 40%, issued a new report about restorative justice to talk about the long-term damaging effects suspensions and expulsions have on our youth. The report makes several key recommendations, which include the incorporation ... Read More
The Sacramento Bee published startling figures from the report released last week from the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA. Findings unveil that most of Sacramento’s region’s 15 largest districts “suspended black and Latino students at higher rates than white students in 2009-10.” Sacramento-area school officials interviewed have reaffirmed their commitment to keep students ... Read More
California legislators have taken a major step toward fixing harsh school discipline rules. On April 11, Education committees in the state Assembly and Senate passed seven separate bills that address some of the most serious problems. They heard powerful testimony from students, parents, educators, law enforcement, academics, and youth advocates about the need to change ... Read More
Researchers at UCLA have released a shocking report showing 400,000 California students were suspended from school in 2009 — enough to fill all the professional baseball and football stadiums in the state. The new study from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA also finds that many California school districts suspend large percentages of students. The ... Read More
A newly released poll of Californians shows more than 80% support changes to harsh school discipline rules that led to the suspension or expulsion of more than 400,000 students in 2009-2010 and more than 750,000 suspensions in the same year. Are you in the 80%? Click here to send your name to California legislators and ... Read More
A March 30 editorial in the Bakersfield Californian noted that the Legislature “has already prescribed enough discipline in the Education Code.” Assemblymember Roger Dickinson writes “that’s a reason to embrace, not dismiss, my bill, AB 2242.” Here is more from his letter to the editor: Schools are too prone to send kids home from school ... Read More
“Willful defiance” accounts for 40% student suspensions, but who defines “defiance”? Research has found that under this highly subjective category, students are sent out of school for anything from failing to turn in homework, not paying attention, refusing to follow directions to take off a coat or hat, or swearing in class. They can also ... Read More
