Research Shows Zero Tolerance Doesn’t Work Study after study has shown that zero-tolerance discipline policies are harmful to all students and disproportionately affect students of color, students with disabilities and LGBTQ students. Recently, the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit center that studies justice policy recently released a report, “A Generation Later: What We’ve ... Read More
There’s positive news from San Francisco about the role of police on campus. Community groups have come together to promote a new agreement between San Francisco police and schools that will reduce arrests on campus and the troubling racial gap that happens as a result. UPDATE: The San Francisco Unified School District approved the final ... Read More
Join us for a week of videos from the Dignity in Schools Campaign! We’ll be posting one new video every day this week. Dignity in Schools Bay Area 2013 Week of Action Video Series, Part 3: Restorative Justice from Black Organizing Project on Vimeo. Dignity in Schools Bay Area 2013 Week of Action Video Series, ... Read More
This weekend will showcase an entire conference dedicated to fixing school discipline. “We Can Do Better: Collaborating to Reform School Discipline and Accountability,” is sponsored by the Advancement Project and will bring educators, school administrators, community activists, law enforcement and students together to talk about what can be done to combat the school-to-prison-pipeline. You can read more ... Read More
Another look into an absurd school discipline policy that totes a 6-year-old off to jail for having a tantrum during school. Elsewhere in this country, young students have been suspended and jailed for throwing a pencil at another student, doodling on a school desk, and having a food fight. The absence of common sense discipline ... Read More
Kiera Wilmot, the Florida fifth grade student who was recently arrested and suspended for doing a high school science experiment, demonstrates the use of severe discipline policies that perpetuate the ‘school-to-prison-pipeline.’ The young scientist wrote a blog for the ACLU about how her and her family have been affected by the school’s harsh discipline policies. Read ... Read More
This week, the Assembly Education Committee voted unanimously to move ahead with AB 420, which restricts the use of “willful defiance” in schools. Even though current law sites 23 other reasons for suspension and expulsions, “willful defiance” is often seen as a catch-all, and accounts for 53% of all school suspensions. New data around “willful defiance” ... Read More
Congratulations! AB 420 passed out of the Assembly Education Committee today with a unanimous vote and bipartisan support. The hearing was packed with students, community leaders, parents and educators standing in support as teacher and Coordinator of School Culture and Climate from Davidson Middle School told the Committee, “Suspension alienates the very students who most ... Read More
Today, UCLA’s Civil Rights Project released a new report highlighting the overuse of suspensions and the serious implications that it has on students’ trajectories including graduation rates, achievement scores, life outcomes and incarceration rates. The report looks at data from over 26,000 U.S. middle and high schools during the 2009-2010 academic year. Its findings show ... Read More
In Oakland, schools have employed restorative justice practices as an alternative to ‘”zero-tolerance” policies. Eric Butler is a coordinator of restorative justice for Ralph J. Brunche High School. We highlighted Mr. Butler and Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY) in our Fix School Discipline Toolkit The restorative justice program at Ralph J. Brunche promotes strong ... Read More
