DRUM joins Dignity in Schools in Celebrating a Year of Youth and Parent Action for Educational…
NEWS & UPDATES
Dear friends,
The Dignity in Schools Campaign would like to thank you all for your amazing work throughout 2011. Thanks to you, we are a strong and growing campaign. You brought your energy and determination to our Days at the Capitol in April and July, where you met with members of Congress, and officials from the Department of Education, Department of Justice and the White House to call for urgently needed school discipline reform to implement positive approaches in place of suspensions and expulsions.
You shook things up around the country by holding local events and actions during the week of October 1-8 for the Annual Week of Action on School Pushout. And last but not least, we came together in December for our Annual Membership Meeting where we shared updates on our local work, discussed major campaign decisions, and planned our work for the year ahead.
You did all this while at the same time leading campaigns in your local communities to end the schoolhouse to jailhouse track, introducing restorative justice practices and other positive approaches in our schools, making sure that students’ voices are heard, and advocating for the human right of every young person to a quality education and to be treated with dignity.
We want to celebrate everything we accomplished in 2011 and look forward to continuing to work together to make 2012 even greater!
This final e-newsletter for 2011 includes a video with highlights from the DSC Annual Week of Action on School Pushout, a new report from A Better Way and Connecticut Pushout Research and Organizing Project on alternative schools in Connecticut, and a job listing for a National Field Organizer with the Dignity in Schools Campaign.
Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Dignity in Schools Campaign
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like to get involved by writing to info@dignityinschools.org. You can also visit the Dignity in Schools Campaign on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.
Video: “Push Back Against School Pushout: Highlights from the Week of Action 2011 ”
Throughout the week of October 1-8, 2011, thousands of parents, youth, and educators took part in student-led actions and events in 28 cities to expose the school pushout crisis in our nation and advocate for the human right of every young person to a quality education and to be treated with dignity. The events and actions included street theater, public forums, rallies, restorative justice trainings, and more.
This 11-minute video includes highlights from some of the events and actions held around the country during the Week of Action on School Pushout.
Click here to watch the video.
DSC JOBS/INTERNSHIPS:
National Field Organizer
The Dignity in Schools Campaign is hiring for a National Field Organizer who whill build DSC’s base and leadership in affected communities across the country towards building a winning movement for educational justice and equity. DSC is a growing and dynamic national coalition that is transitioning to democratic, member-leadership structures. We value dedication, a collaborative work ethic, and accountability to our grassroots membership bases. The National Field Organizer will travel regularly. He/she will work as part of a three person staff team.
Click here for more information and how to apply.
Communications Internship
The Dignity in Schools Campaign seeks a Spring/Summer 2012 intern to assist its Communications Coordinator with press relations, media database development, copy editing and graphic design of print materials, routine social media and website updates, blog postings, as well as work with podcasts, video, images and other new media tools. Responsibilities will be modified to suit the interests and skills of the intern.
Click here for more information and how to apply.
NEW RESOURCES:
Invisible Students: The Role of Alternative and Adult Education in Connecticut’s School-to-Prison Pipeline
This new report from A Better Way and Connecticut Pushout Research and Organizing Project documents how thousands of vulnerable Connecticut teens have been counseled, coerced or involuntarily removed from mainstream high schools often through illegal practices that take advantage of loopholes in current accountability standards. Students who are trapped in this “secret pipeline” often land at alternative and adult education programs which accelerate the likelihood that youth will become entangled in the justice system.Click here to learn more.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
2012 School-to-Prison-Pipeline Regional Action Camps
Presented by Advancement Project in partnership with AEJ, DSC, Labor/Community Strategy Center, Padres & Jovenes Unidos, Youth United for Change and other local partners.
Western Region – Los Angeles, CA February 10-12
Southern Region – Raleigh/Durham, NC March 2-4
Midwestern Region – Chicago, IL April 13-15
Northeastern Region – New York, NY June 1-3
The overuse of harsh zero-tolerance measures, police, and juvenile courts in addressing school disciplinary issues has led to the needless pushout and criminalization of countless youth across America. In response, a growing national movement has emerged to dismantle this School-to-Prison-Pipeline. This grassroots-led effort has already achieved important victories, and the momentum for change is building, but there is much more to be done.
Join with youth and adult advocates from across the country at one of the 2012 School-to-Prison-Pipeline Regional Action Camps.
Click here to find out more!
About the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC)
The Dignity in Schools Campaign is a national coalition of youth, parents, advocates, community-based organizations, educators and policymakers working together to seek human rights-based solutions to the systemic problem of pushout in U.S. schools.
Visit us at www.dignityinschools.org to learn more.
DIGNITY IN SCHOOLS | 90 JOHN ST. STE 308, NEW YORK, NY 10038 | TEL: (212) 253-1710 Ext. 317 | FAX (212) 385-6124 | info@dignityinschools.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2011
Contact: Liz Sullivan, Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY (DSC-NY), (646) 342-0541, liz@nesri.org
Akilah Irvin, Youth on the Move, (646) 226-9152, akilah@mothersonthemove.org
DOE Releases New Discipline Code; Students, Parents, Teachers Say Changes Not Enough to Fix Broken System
High suspension rates will continue unless Bloomberg and Walcott take action to implement positive alternatives
New York, NY – As students return to school this week, youth, parents, public school teachers and advocates with the Dignity in Schools Campaign-New York (DSC-NY) are challenging the latest version of the Discipline Code as being out of synch with the Mayor’s new initiative to make sure young men of color graduate in greater numbers. “The Discipline Code still overreacts to relatively minor alleged misbehavior, particularly when it comes to Black and Latino boys and students with disabilities,” said Akilah Irvin of Youth on the Move and DSC-NY.
Recently, Mayor Bloomberg announced his new Black and Latino Male Initiative, and Chancellor Walcott has stated that a priority is to ensure that Black and Latino young men are graduating college and career ready. “We hope both the Chancellor’s and the Mayor’s commitment to reduce the number of suspensions of Black and Latino students will translate into action,” said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). More than 38,000 Black students are suspended every year, and the vast majority are male. A first step toward dismantling the school to prison pipeline, and producing high school graduates who are college and career ready, is to drastically reduce the number of suspensions by implementing positive alternatives.
While revisions to this year’s Code continue a positive trend from the past few years to give administrators additional discretion to impose less severe disciplinary responses, these changes will have little effect on the more than 70,000 suspensions issued each year. Like last year, the Code permits schools to use positive alternatives to suspensions if they choose, but creates no incentive or obligation for schools to use them.
Montania Chakladar, a student at Information Technology High School and youth leader of Desis Rising Up & Moving said, “As a student, I strongly believe that when the DOE doesn’t require positive interventions like conflict resolution and restorative practices before a student gets suspended it can really harm a student’s learning and pushes students out of school, since the real issues behind the suspension are left unresolved. Punishments like suspensions and expulsions only keep students away from learning and make them fall behind. By requiring schools to use restorative practices, students get an opportunity to learn and solve conflicts by communicating with peers and adults in school.”
In the revised Discipline Code, schools are still given wide discretion to enact severe suspensions as they see fit for a wide range of often minor misbehavior, including up to 10-day suspensions for “being insubordinate” and up to 90 days for fighting that does not result in serious injury. A 2011 NYCLU report, which analyzed 10 years of school discipline data, found that students of color and students with disabilities are those most impacted by zero tolerance discipline. The report shows that students with disabilities are four times more likely to be suspended, and Black students, who represent 33% of the student population yet received 53% of suspensions, were more likely to be suspended for minor misbehavior.
During the New York City Department of Education’s Discipline Code Hearing on June 21, 2011 at Tweed, members of DSC-NY, a citywide coalition, advocated for revisions to the Code that would keep students in school and require positive alternatives to suspension.
“We were pleased to see that the Department of Education incorporated a number of changes based on our recommendations, including encouraging schools to use more positive interventions and revising the fighting infractions in the code to direct schools to use less severe responses for minor altercations,” said Jaime Koppel of Children’s Defense Fund–New York. “Yet the changes did not go far enough, and some revisions are steps in the wrong direction. For example, students can now be suspended or even expelled for simply ‘displaying or sharing’ materials that threaten injury or harm. A more appropriate response would help a student understand the potential harm such materials can cause.”
Ronnette Summers, a parent from P.S. 18 in the Bronx, also a member of NSA-Parent Action Committee and DSC-NY said, “We need to decriminalize our school system and develop a culture of mutual respect among the young people and adults in the school building. We need a system that is less punitive, and focused more on getting to the root of the issues, to avoid conflict in the future.”
Studies show that positive interventions like restorative practices not only result in fewer discipline incidents, but have also improved student attitudes, academic outcomes, and positive relationships between students and adults within the school community. In the long-run these alternatives are cost effective and our best mechanism for creating a positive school climate.
While the DOE has taken small steps in the right direction, the change is happening too slowly. The time is now. Today’s students can’t afford to wait.
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The Dignity in Schools Campaign-New York (DSC-NY) is a citywide coalition of students, parents, advocates, educators and lawyers calling for positive, school-wide approaches to discipline that improve school climate, reduce conflict, and increase learning. We work to reduce suspensions and other harsh policies that violate students’ human rights to education and dignity.
Members include: Advocates for Children, Children’s Defense Fund-NY, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), Future of Tomorrow, Girls for Gender Equity, Make the Road New York, Mass Transit Street Theatre, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI), New Settlement Apartments Parent Action Committee, New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Sistas and Brothas United, Teachers Unite, Urban Youth Collaborative, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, and Youth on the Move.