This is a guest blog from Education Voters of PA.
The school to prison pipeline is a system of policies and practices that pushes children out of school and into the criminal justice system. This system prioritizes incarceration and punishment over education and rehabilitation in schools and significantly contributes to devastating system of mass incarceration in America.
Zero tolerance policies create a mandatory punishment for infractions in schools. They allow school officials to punish children without regard to situational factors, leading to instances such as a 1st grader being suspended for making a gun gesture with his hand on the grounds that there is a zero-tolerance policy for guns in school.
The increased presence of police officers in schools is also a significant factor. Involving law enforcement in the everyday workings of schools leads to the placement of students in the criminal justice system for infractions that would have otherwise been dealt with by a trip to the principal’s office and a phone call to their family.
Underfunded public school systems that place many children in overcrowded, under-resourced classrooms without the critical support of qualified teachers, guidance counselors and other adults are also at the heart of the issue.
Non-white children face a disproportionate risk for being placed in the school to prison pipeline because of racial bias in discipline practices. Black students are being suspended and expelled at twice the rate of their white counterparts, despite findings that non-white children are no more likely to commit infractions than white students. Similarly, a lack of understanding and proper training of staff puts students with disabilities at an increased risk of exposure to the pipeline. These students are twice as likely to be suspended or arrested as their non-disabled peers.
The pipeline has a devastating impact on the lives of children and financial consequences for our communities and our nation. Students who are suspended or expelled from school are more likely to drop out entirely, meaning they will be entering the work force with a lower education and thus receive a lower income. In addition, criminal records may prohibit many from employment opportunities for the rest of their lives. By contributing to the growing rates of incarceration in the US, the pipeline is also increasing the already more than $1 trillion in costs both for incarceration and the social costs borne by the families and communities of incarcerated persons.
Increasingly, school districts are taking steps toward ending the school to prison pipeline by partnering with parents, community members and policymakers to refocus their resources and energy away from harsh discipline and toward restorative practices to address conflicts, as this Baltimore school did by replacing detention with meditation.
By placing students in healthy learning environments where they are allowed to explore and learn from their mistakes through restorative and positive discipline, students have the opportunity to l learn how to problem solve and correct their behavior with the guidance of supportive teachers and staff. Such an approach will help students grow and prevent future misbehavior while keeping them inside the classroom, where they belong.
To learn more about the school to prison pipeline and how you can be a part of the solution that will end this harmful practice, please visit the ACLU site End Zero Tolerance.
Susan Spicka, Executive Director, Education Voters of PA
Jasmine Rogasner, Intern, Education Voters of PA
Leave a Reply