Over 60 concerned parents and advocates gathered at Big Bethel A.M.E. Church on Saturday, Oct. 9 to discuss “Dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline (STPP)” in Atlanta, Georgia. The event, a collaboration between Gwinnett Parent Coalition to Dismantle the STPP, Atlanta Community Engagement Team, the ACLU of Georgia, Georgia State Conference NAACP, and the Interfaith Children’s Movement, kicked off the DSC’s National Week of Action—a call for everyone across the country to push back against school pushout and advocate for dignity and fairness in schools.

The all-day symposium featured a presentation from Sharon Hill, Executive Director of Georgia Appleseed —a non-profit and non-partisan law center—and former juvenile justice judge. Hill spoke to student rights, how parents can best advocate for their children in cases of school discipline, and areas where work was still necessary to strengthen rights in the peach state. Throughout the program, two volunteer attorneys offered free legal consultation for parents and student advocates. Many parent attendees, particularly ones with teenagers, were understandably concerned about their children’s rights and sought understanding.

The Georgia symposium, which is scheduled to take place in five different regions, comes at a critical point. Nearly one in eight Atlanta Public School (APS) students received at least one in- or out-of-school suspension during the 2009-2010 school year. Combined, APS students lost 22,077 days of instructional time. APS’ Black students in particular are 7.6 times more likely than white students to be suspended. Across Georgia, students lost a combined 1.7 million days of instructional time during the 2009-2010 school year.

The most recent data shows that APS’ graduation rate at 41.9 percent in 2007. Georgia ranked 47^th among graduation rates, with only 57.8 percent of its students graduating in 2007.

Marlyn Tillman, co-chair of Gwinnett Parent Coalition and event organizer said, “Our school climate needs to change. Our graduation rates are decreasing, while discipline rates are increasing,”

Local school board members as well as state legislators joined the conversation, speaking to what is currently being done to address the issue of school pushout.  Atlanta Public Schools Board Chair for District 2 Khaatim Sherrer El, State Sen. Donzella James, Fulton County School Board Member Catherine Maddox of District 6 and State Representatives Margaret Kaiser and Alisha Thomas Morgan attended.

Morgan in particular spoke passionately about the issue, pointing to her own reform work to ensure students are able to attend the schools they want. During the 2009 legislative session, she introduced legislation that allows students to transfer to any school within their district as long as there is space in the new school. School systems are required to tell parents where space is available.

Morgan, who sits on the State House Education Committee, noted her annoyance with adults who blamed children for problems ultimately created by adults. Yet, she implored attendees to show their support of important legislation by calling and writing their local and state government officials.

Maddox stayed throughout the entire event, “the only brave soul” according to Tillman. Maddox, who has a child with a disability, took a lot of notes and mentioned she has some good information to take back to the Fulton County School Board.

Yet, the showstopper of the day was Cultural Proficiency Consultant Dana Smith who presented on “Criminalizing Embryos: The Mass Incarceration of Youth of Color.” His presentation, featuring a short video called “Silent Beats”, discussed the many predicators of who goes to prison and how many Fortune 500 companies support prison industries. Needless to say, the audience was left speechless, but empowered.

"I hope parents took away the importance of knowing more about the teachers attitudes, affilitations, and beliefs as it pertains to valuing students of color and the process of criminilizing them that is so constant in so many schools," Smith said.

Big Bethel A.M.E. Church, which has its own Juvenile Justice Ministry, was the starting point for the event—reaching out to the Interfaith Children’s Movement and others to bring the symposium to its fellowship hall. The church dedicated the weekend to discussing the pipeline, with Pastor Gregory V. Eason preaching on the ills of the pipeline to his congregation the next day.

Big Bethel’s involvement in initiating the local event illustrates the necessity for legislators and education policy makers to include communities in the conversation of fixing schools and dismantling the STPP.

“This isn’t just a school problem,” Tillman notes. “Schools need to be more welcoming of the community. If they continue to shut the community out, they will fully own the problem. Yet, as they do that, the problem will remain because [schools] cannot solve the problem by themselves.”

Check out photos from Atlanta's event and others here.