Welcome to the Dignity in Schools Campaign Listserv! We are pleased to welcome three new members to the core organizing group of the DSC: Matthew Cregor of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Anna Lambertson, a parent advocate from Kansas, and Lynn White an advocate from Washington DC.

Sign-on to DSC Letters of Support and Recommendations for the Positive Behavior for Effective School Act (PBESA)

Email Mattew Cregor by 5pm Friday, August 22.

The Positive Behavior for Effective Schools Act would enable schools to use Title I funds to implement just and proven programs, such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), to replace counterproductive, zero tolerance discipline policies in our schools.

Positive approaches to school discipline are necessary to ensure that our children attend school in an environment that protects their inherent dignity and ensures their human right to an education aimed at their full academic, social, and emotional development.

We urge you to review the bill and sign-on to the DSC letter of support for the bill and the DSC letter of recommendation to strengthen and amend the language of the bill. Contact Matthew Cregor for copies of the DSC letters and to get involved.

Human Rights Report on Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools

Human Rights Watch and the ACLU released the report, "A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in US Public Schools," documenting the disparate use of corporal punishment against African-American students and students with special needs, and the destructive school environment created by corporal punishment.

NYC Student Safety Coalition Rallies for Students' Rights

Hundreds of youth and advocates rallied at City Hall for the introduction of the Student Safety Act to bring accountability and transparency to school safety practices and ensure students' human rights to education and to safety with dignity.

Listen On-line to the DSC Tele-conference: How Immigrant Students Are Being Pushout Out of School
Advocates, educators and organizers from Pennsylvania, California, New York, and Illinois discuss the barriers that immigrant students encounter that push them out of school and how schools can better respond to the needs of immigrant students and their families. Click here to listen to the call

New Resources Linked on the DSC Website

• Website for the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning
  This website includes research reports on the positive impact of social and emotional learning on the school environment, student behavior and academic achievement. The website also includes implementation guides and toolkits on social and emotional learning.

• Reducing Dropout in Alabama through PBIS
  The Southern Poverty Law Center recently released the report "Effective Discipline for Student Success: Reducing Student and Teacher Dropout Rates in Alabama."

• Positive Impact of Restorative Practices at CFS Buxmont Academy, Pennsylvania
  The International Institute for Restorative Practices released research findings on the positive impacts of restorative practices for youth participating in Buxmont Academy programs.

Please send us articles, reports, websites, on-line videos, tool-kits and other resources to add to the website. Email research@dignityinschools.org.

Visit the website to learn about membership and get involved in the campaign. The DSC has a Core Group that oversees the project, Working Group Members that help shape our work and participate in our ongoing projects, and Allied Organizations that believe in and support the campaign.

Core Group Members:

Matthew Cregor, Southern Poverty Law Center
Rosa Hirji, Children’s Rights Litigation Committee, American Bar Association
Anna Lambertson, Parent Advocate, Kansas
Monica Llorente, Children & Family Justice Center, Northwestern School of Law
Rodney Skager, Professor Emeritus, UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
Liz Sullivan, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Lori Turner, ACLU of Illinois
Lynn White, Advocate, Washington, DC

The Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) challenges the systemic problem of pushout in our nation's schools and advocates for every child’s human right to education and to be treated with dignity.  The DSC unites policy advocates, parent and student organizers, educators and lawyers in a campaign to promote local and national alternatives to a culture of zero-tolerance, punishment and removal.