An excellent historical look at racial disparity in one town’s school-to-prison-pipeline. In Meridian, Mississippi, the Department of Justice initiated a case review of the town during the 2007-2008 school year, confirming that African-American students were treated more harshly than their white counterparts. During one six-year period studied, students were arrested for such simple things as ... Read More
Two new articles in the Christian Science Monitor focus on the school-to-prison-pipeline and restorative justice models. “School suspensions: Does racial bias feed the school-to-prison pipeline” looks nationwide, at schools’ disparity in suspension and expulsion rates for different groups and why that happens. Read more… The related article, “Restorative justice: One high school’s path to reducing ... Read More
There are waves in our schools as restorative justice replaces punitive justice. More than 23,000 schools are letting go of punitive approaches to discipline in favor of restorative models. Schools that adopt these models often see at least a 20% drop in suspension rates during their first year, which impacts graduation rates, test scores and ... Read More
A new report by David S. Kirk and Robert J. Sampson highlights the impact of juvenile arrest on completion of high school and how it alters life trajectories around work and family. The report concludes: With high school and even college graduation virtually a necessity for a successful transition to adulthood, we conclude that the ... Read More
Are you an educator, student, parent, concerned community member, student advocate or school administrator? Do you care about helping students stay in school and preventing unnecessary suspensions and expulsions? You have an opportunity to make a difference by sending a letter of support to legislators for Assembly Bill 420. AB 420 will limit the use of ... Read More
Sarah Omojola joined Public Counsel in September 2012. She is a former English teacher and co-founder of a Stand Up For Each Other, an organization that provides advocacy services for students facing disciplinary action in New Orleans. She now works with Public Counsel and Fix School Discipline on policy and advocacy relating to stopping the school-to-prison pipeline. Sarah ... Read More
Retired California Superior Court Judge Leonard Edwards has seen the results of high suspensions and expulsions, and he knows there’s a better way. In an oped in the San Jose Mercury News he writes that “suspensions and expulsions are not necessary.” He cites the example of Garfield High in East Los Angeles, which reduced its ... Read More
Today in Los Angeles, students, parents, and teachers from across the country launched a national “Solutions Not Suspensions” campaign calling for a moratorium on out-of-school suspensions and for schools to adopt more constructive disciplinary actions that benefit students, classrooms and communities. The effort is sponsored by the Dignity in Schools Campaign and Opportunity to Learn ... Read More
Check out this stunning infographic by Community Coalition: Click on the image to zoom in. Did you know that 40% of all children expelled from U.S. schools are black? Are you aware of the fact that 68% of all males in prison do not have a high school diploma? We need to stop this prison ... Read More
There’s a growing realization that when students are suspended, the next step after an early exit from school is often an early entry into the justice system. Public Counsel Education Rights Director Laura Faer writes at California Progress Report that “civil rights advocates, judges and law enforcement sometimes wind up on different sides of the ... Read More
