The schoo-to-prison pipeline is one of the most important civil rights challenges facing our nation today.
-The school -to- prison pipeline refers to the national trend of criminalizing, rather
than educating, our nation's children.
-The pipeline encompasses the growing use of the zero tolerance discipline, school based arrest, disciplinary alternative schools, and secured detention to marginalize our most at risk youth and deny them access to education.
Zero-tolerance disciplinary policies are often the first step in a child's journey through the pipeline.
Students have been expelled for bringing a kitchen knife to donate to goodwill, Midol to a classmate, scissors for an art project.
Schools today rely on law enforcement, rather than teachers and administrators, to handle minor school misconduct.
The rise in suspensions, expulsions, and school-based arrests may be due, in part, to the rise of high-stakes testing.
We must demand accountability for the education of all students.
Even worse, schools may actually encourage dropouts in response to pressures from test-based accountability regimes such as the No Child Left Behind Act, which create incentives to push out low-performing students to boost overall test scores.
IF YOU LIVE IN THE ORLANDO AREA, AND WOULD LIKE TO GET INVOLVED IN THIS ISSUE PLEASE EMAIL Beverly Campbell, and include a contact number. theyoungambassadorscouncil@yahoo.com
Calling all Teachers, Administrators and Parents.
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