School-to-Prison Pipeline
Across the country, school systems are shutting the doors of academic opportunity for students and funneling them, unnecessarily, into the juvenile and criminal justice system. The school to prison pipeline is a racial justice crisis: students pushed out of school are disproportionately students of color. Our Ending the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track Project reduces the use of out-of-school suspensions and ends criminalization of students, while developing nurturing learning environments. We work at both the national level and on the ground with our community partners, including young people, to examine, expose and reform practices that lead to the criminalization of students. Our groundbreaking work in this area has led to significant change and supported the leadership development of students.The very same police that are killing Black youth in the streets have found their way into our schools.
Are public schools making as much progress on school climate as they claim?
What students need in this moment are counselors and mental health professionals, comprehensive sex education and restorative justice programming. Not police and practices that further calcify the school-to-prison pipeline.
The OCR data confirms what the community has long assessed; there is a war on Black youth through increased police presence and occupation of their schools.
There is a fundamental mismatch between the nurturing school climate students need to learn and grow, and the culture of policing, a culture primarily tasked with law enforcement.
Schools should be a safe place for learning and growth for all children. This can’t happen until officers are taken out of schools.
It’s time to start prioritizing student success, not student criminalization.
Alexandria’s discipline policy unfortunately mirrors policies nationally that disproportionately push students of color out of school and into prison.
A Community Review of Alexandria City Public Schools’ Implementation of Restorative Justice
This video confirms what data has already shown: School police officers do little keep students safe.
Every day that goes by is a day in which another Black student risks being criminalized and pushed out by Pinellas County Schools.