Mobilizing for Safe and Just Schools: Add your community to the Movement for Safe and Just Schools Map

Minneapolis, Denver, Charlottesville, Portland, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh… these are just a few of the scores of cities and communities across the country where educators, students and community organizations are organizing to create supportive school environment that respect a student’s humanity, upholds their dignity, and responds fairly to mistakes and missteps. School districts are moving to make better, research-informed choices to drive resources back into schools where they will have the most impact for our students.

Click on the map below to find details on local resolutions, petitions and organizing.

 

 

Put your community on the Movement for Safe and Just Schools map!

LOCAL UNIONS SUPPORTING THE MOVEMENT FOR SAFE & JUST SCHOOLS

Addressing the over-reliance on police in public schools is crucial to dismantling the systemic racism that deprives Black and Brown youth of the opportunity to succeed at the very first stages of their lives.  It is the single greatest step we can take to end the school-to-prison pipeline, through which Black and Brown students are pushed out of our public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. By rebalancing and redirecting resources to school counselors, restorative justice programs and other proven methods to address student health and wellbeing, we can ensure our students have opportunities to learn and thrive.

Additional Info:

• The School to Prison to Deportation Pipeline

• An End to the School-To-Prison-And-Deportation Pipeline

• Counselors Not Cops: Ending the Regular Presence of Cops in Schools

• Why Counselors, Not Cops?

• Cops and No Counselors

• United Educators of San Francisco Resolution Calling on S.F. Unified School District to discontinue its Memorandum of Understanding with the S.F. Police Department

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What Our Students Need Now: Virtual School Culture That Is Healthy, Just and Strong

School is a place where childhood happens. And most of us believe that every child, whatever their color, background or zip code, has the right to learn in a supportive environment that respects their humanity, upholds their dignity, and responds fairly to mistakes and missteps. We are in unprecedented times, and now more than ever, the school community has the opportunity and the responsibility to focus on what matters most — safe, just and healthy students and school communities.

At a time when many students are learning in virtual settings, educators and administrators must address discriminatory policies and practices that often contribute to disproportionate discipline. For far too long data has shown that Black, Brown, Indigenous and LGBT students are more likely to be disciplined and disciplined more harshly than their white peers for the same behavior.

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Over-Policing in LAUSD Gives Way to Safe and Just Schools

A student-led movement in Los Angeles gets results with new district programs to ensure Black students thrive.

By Cindy Long

Georgia Flowers-Lee recalls all too well the ordeal of her nephew being arrested at one of the top ranked high schools in Los Angeles for allegedly tagging a desk. He said he didn’t do it, witnesses said he didn’t do it, but he was charged and had to appear in court.

“Then the officer never showed up,” Lee says. “It was an unnecessary trauma on my nephew and our family, and he wound up changing schools. But it wasn’t unusual. Black students tend to be targeted when police are present.”

Lee, a special education teacher at Saturn Elementary in Los Angeles, has long supported the student-led movement to end the over-policing in schools

“Children shouldn’t show up for learning in a place that looks like a prison and be treated like criminals,” she says. “Students need positive, not punitive, approaches to education.”

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Schools are unfairly pushing girls out

Too many schools suspend girls for minor issues —such as going against strict dress codes or “talking back.” In general, schools suspend Black, Latina and American Indian/Alaskan Native girls at higher rates than white girls.

These practices tell these girls that school is not a welcome place. These practices may also be informed by illegal gender and racial bias. This tool kit will help you find out if your school’s discipline policy treats girls of color fairly. Use this guide to learn your rights, how you can change your school policy, and where to find help.

• Black girls are 5.5 times more likely to be suspended from school as white girls.
• Black girls are more likely than any other race or gender to be suspended more than once.
• Schools are 3.5 times more likely to suspend Black girls with disabilities than white girls with disabilities.
• In preschools, Black girls are 20% of the girls enrolled but 54% of the girls receiving out-of-school suspensions; in K-12, Black girls are 16% of the girls enrolled but 45% of the girls receiving out-of-school suspensions.

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Taking Restorative Practices School-Wide: Insights from Three Schools in Denver

The Denver School-Based Restorative Practices Partnership is a coalition of racial justice, education, labor and community groups working to ensure widespread and high-quality implementation of restorative practices in Denver Public Schools and beyond.

Through interviews and focus groups with staff members at three Denver schools that have successfully implemented restorative practices (RP), four essential strategies for taking this approach school-wide were identified:

• Strong principal vision and commitment to restorative practices.
• Explicit efforts to generate staff buy-in to this conflict resolution approach.
• Continuous and intensive professional development opportunities.
• The allocation of school funds for a full-time coordinator of restorative practices at the site.

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