Youth, parents, teachers and advocates with the Dignity in Schools Campaign-New York (DSC-NY) are challenging the latest draft of the Discipline Code as not going far enough to address the disproportionate suspension of students of color. To send a clear message that more change is needed, DSC-NY is launching a countdown blog highlighting a new suspension story each day between now and June 5^th when a public hearing on the Discipline Code will take place.

Before 6-year old Salecia Johnson was handcuffed in a Georgia classroom and escorted to the local police station after a tantrum last month, a 5-year-old autistic boy in Brooklyn was strapped to a stretcher, hauled out of his Brighton Beach classroom and taken in an ambulance to a psych ward on March 6.

Bronx, NY – On March 8, 2012, the New Settlement Parent Action Committee, and the Dignity in Schools Campaign- New York gathered close to 100 parents, students, educators, and elected officials on the steps of the Bronx Borough President’s office to express their outrage over the Bronx’s shocking rates of school-based arrests and student summonses, and to demand positive disciplinary alternatives. 

New York, NY – On average more than five students were arrested every day during the last three months of 2011 – 93.5% of those arrested were Black and Latino. On February 22, 2012 the Dignity in Schools Campaign- New York, a coalition of  students, parents, educators, and advocates, came together with City Council members at One Police Plaza to release student arrest and summons data and demand better school safety policies.

By Andrea Bustard, Dignity in Schools Campaign-New York

On January 24, Maryland state school board members announced that they will propose an overhaul of school discipline codes to curb the increasing number of school suspensions. These new regulations would seek to move away from the zero-tolerance policies that have resulted in eight percent of students state-wide being suspended last year, nearly half of whom were suspended for nonviolent offenses.