Roughly 90 organizations, coalitions and individuals signed-on to the ACLU letter in support of the Act to ban corporal punishment.

On June 29, Representative McCarthy will be introducing the bill in the House of Representatives and will hold a press conference in Washington DC.

WHEN:
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
11:00 a.m. EDT

WHERE:
House Triangle
(located in the grassy triangle on the House side of the Capitol's  East Front)
Washington, D.C.

The Executive Summary can be found at:
http://cadre-la.org/media/docs/0707_RedefDignityShadowReptExecSumm.pdf. 

The complete report will be available soon on the authors' websites: CADRE (www.cadre-la.org), Public Counsel Law Center (www.publiccounsel.org), and Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc. (www.mhas-la.org). Additional contact information is included in the Executive Summary.

On April 22, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing entitled ESEA and Addressing the Needs of the Whole Child.  School discipline was among the topics covered, featuring testimony from George Sugai about Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports.  The DSC submitted a sign-on letter to the Senate Committee emphasizing the imporatance of including discipline reform in reauthorization. 

You can watch video of the hearing http://help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=f3ea2006-5056-9502-5dbd-7fbf488d5ec3

DSC Submits Letter Signed by over 70 Organizations and Individuals in Support of House Committee Hearing on Corporal Punishment's Impact on Education

On Thursday, April 15, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities held a hearing entitled, "Corporal Punishment in Schools and its Effect on Academic Success." The Subcommittee's Chairwoman, Representative Carolyn McCarthy, looks to address school-based corporal punishment's academic harms in the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The DSC submitted a sign-on letter to support the issues being discussed at the hearing and to raise awareness for the need to address the impact of exclusionary practices on student learning as well.

Watch a webcast of the hearing which took place on April 13.

Click here for more information on ESEA reauthorization and school discipline reform.

• March 26 - DSC Submits Letter, Signed by Over 100 Organizations and Individuals, to US House of Representatives on ESEA Reauthorization
  The US House of Representatives has begun the reauthorization process for ESEA by asking for public comments.  We have prepared a sign-on letter presenting our broad recommendations for change.   

• Get Involved with DSC Reauthorization working groups
  While these recommendations will serve as a good starting point, there is a lot of work to be done at both the local and federal levels to make school discipline reform a part of federal law.
  
   
  • Take our Local Advocacy Strategies Group Survey to give us feedback on our initial recommendations and tell us how discipline reform under ESEA could impact pushout in your community
     
  • Watch a video from DSC Member Group CADRE about how supporting positive approaches to discipline through ESEA will make an impact in South Los Angeles.  If you are interested in sharing your own video contact info@dignityinschools.org.
     
  • For more information visit the Alternatives to Zero-Tolerance Working Group webpage

Read the Powerpoint Presentation from the March 19 Webinar: School Discipline Reform and Reauthorization of ESEA (also in PDF) 

Moderators:

• Joyce Parker, Citizens for a Better Greenville, Mississippi
• Marlyn Tillman, Gwinnett Parent Coalition to Dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline

Speakers:

• Matthew Cregor, Safe Schools Strategist, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
• Udi Ofer, Advocacy Director, New York Civil Liberties Union
• Jim Freeman, Staff Attorney and Project Director, Advancement Project
• Maisie Chin, Co-Founder and Director, Community Asset Development Redefining Education (CADRE)

Police in LAUSD Schools: The Need for Accountability and Alternatives

The Community Rights Campaign in collaboration with the Los Angeles Chapter of the Dignity in Schools Campaign has released the policy paper, Police in LAUSD Schools: The Need for Accountability and Alternatives.

With 340 sworn officers and 147 School Safety Officers, the LASPD is the largest school police department in the country. Given that 91% of LAUSD students are students of color - it is inevitable that the brunt of any potential misconduct or abuse by LASPD officers is shouldered by students of color. As the LAUSD Board prepares to select a new Chief of Police for LASPD, the Community Rights Campaign and Dignity in Schools Campaign urge the LAUSD Board to create new mechanisms and policies that hold the LASPD accountable to the civil/human rights of all LAUSD students-most specifically by creating new LAUSD policies to restrict the role and use of force of LASPD inside our schools and an independent civilian review board to bring greater accountability.

Access articles and radio programs featuring the Community Rights Campaign and DSC Los Angeles Chapter:

Jan 26 - Activists call for reform of LA School Police Department, Southern California Public Radio, KPCC
Dec 13 - LA Youth March for Respect, LA Progressive
Dec 1 - Creating Dignity in Schools, Voices from the Frontlines Radio, KPFK

• Read the National Resolution and list of signatures 
• Press Release
• DSC Letter to Secretary Arne Duncan

Over 200 organizations and individuals from 43 states have signed on in support of the Resolution so far, and we continue to gather more signatures.

Visit www.dignityinschools.org/national-resolution to learn more.

Visit www.dignityinschools.org/resolution-activities to read about ongoing activities around the country to release the Resolution.

Email resolution@dignityinschools.org to sign-on!

Press Release - November 24, 2009

Schools struggling with student dropouts and discipline problems have an opportunity to tackle those issues with innovative programs funded by federal grant money, the Dignity in Schools Campaign and Southern Poverty Law Center said today.

In passing the federal stimulus last winter, Congress gave the U.S. Department of Education an unprecedented $4.35 billion to reward state efforts to close the achievement gap and meet the stimulus' goals. The final guidelines for the "Race to the Top Fund" note the department's particular interest in efforts aimed at improving school climate, as research shows that such efforts can improve academic achievement, school attendance and graduation rates.

The department has offered school-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) as an example of a discipline approach that can be funded by a "Race to the Top" grant. The Dignity in Schools Campaign and Southern Poverty Law Center are urging states to take advantage of this opportunity to include PBIS, as well as restorative practices and other proven approaches, in their grant applications. Click here for the full press release.

A fact sheet about "Race to the Top" grant guidelines is available here.

Read an Article from Chicago Catalyst on the Model Code Project and Dialogue
"Model discipline code would limit suspensions to keep more kids in school," Chicago Catalyst, November 16, 2009

Watch Video of October 23 Roundtable Dialogue
The Dignity in Schools Campaign co-sponsored the Roundtable Socratic Dialogue - The School to Prison Pipeline: Is it a Human Rights Violation?.  The Dialogue was part of a full day conference, Raising Our Hands: Creating a National Strategy for Children's Right to Education and Counsel, sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Litigation Children's Rights Litigation Committee and the DSC. 

Watch the dialogue featuring speakers from around the country, including:

• Adilka Pimentel - Youth Organizer, Make the Road New York
• Representative Dora Olivo  - District 27 Texas House of Representatives
• Judge Brian Huff - Circuit Court Judge, Family Court of Jefferson County, Alabama
• Marcella Diana, Ed.D. - Educator, National Education Association
• Chandra Bhatnagar - Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union Human Rights Project

For the education track of the conference, summit participants and the DSC have been working to develop a model school code that applies human rights standards to promote a human right to a high quality education and dignity in U.S. public schools.  Read the DSC Press Release from the conference.

On November 10, the Dignity in Schools Campaign submitted a letter signed by more than 50 organizations and individuals to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights regarding proposed changes to the Civil Rights Data Collection. 

The Department’s proposal includes a biennial survey of roughly half the nation’s schools (over 7,000 districts), with new requests for data on a range of data, including school-related arrests and referrals to law enforcement, expulsions under zero-tolerance school disciplinary policies, and other discipline related data. The proposed changes provide that data collected be disaggregated by race and ethnicity, gender, special education status (pursuant to IDEA and Section 504), and LEP status.

Read the DSC letter and recommendations.

On October 13, Birmingham public schools adopted a new School Offense Protocol to prevent student arrests for minor offenses, such as fighting or being disruptive in class. 

The agreement - between the school system, Jefferson County Family Court, the district attorney's office, the Department of Human Resources and the Birmingham Police Department - will use warnings and school conflict workshops to respond to student behavior for first and second offenses, rather than arrest or referral to the court system.  Read recent articles and commentary from The Birmingham News.

Judge Brian Huff of the Jefferson County Family Court helped lead the effort to create the new protocol. You can watch video of Judge Huff's presentation discussing the protocol at the DSC Conference in June 2009, and access his Powerpoint presentation. 
 
The Birmingham protocol is modeled after one adopted in Clayton County.  The Clayton County protocol has already produced dramatic results.  Since its adoption in 2004, the number of referrals from schools to juvenile court in Clayton County has dropped by 70%.  Read the recent commentary in The Nation about the Clayton County model.

Sign the DSC Letter in Support of the Positive Behavior for Safe and Effective Schools Act (PBSESA)

Access this session's Positive Behavior for Safe and Effective Schools Act (PBSESA) (H.R. 2597) and the Dignity in Schools Campaign's sign-on support letter.

If you would like to sign our support letter, please email us at alternatives(at)dignityinschools.org by Friday, September 25.

• If you are signing as an organization, please include the organization's name
• While signing on as an organization is preferable, if you are signing as an individual, please include your name and, if you wish, a title or affiliation (e.g., "Anna Lambertson, Advocate", or "Matt Cregor, Southern Poverty Law Center").  We will insert the following disclaimer "the following individuals are listed with their affiliations for identification purposes only"
• A physical copy of your signature is not necessary

As you know, the PBSESA would open additional federal funding streams for the implementation of Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) and other approaches to improving school climate.  Last session, we submitted our suggestions for the bill and they were well received:

• The Findings & Purposes section now cites the disproportionate impact of ineffective, exclusionary disciplinary policies on students of color and students with disabilities; and
• The text of this session's bill would insert the phrase "to reduce the need for suspensions, expulsions, referrals to law enforcement, and other actions that remove students from instruction" into Title I and Safe & Drug-Free Schools wherever the PBSESA would amend them to include language on improving school climate.

Once our signatures are collected, we'll hold a call to identify key Congresspersons to reach out to and ways we can promote the PBSESA locally and federally.  We'll also be looking ahead to other ways to address disciplinary issues in the upcoming No Child Left Behind reauthorization.  

If you have any questions or concerns about the bill, please email us at alternatives(at)dignityinschools.org.

Listen to Part 1and Part 2 of the September 15 call.

Newsflash: The ABA Passes Resolution against School Pushout!

The American Bar Association has passed three resolutions calling for action by school districts, states, and the federal government to secure the right of every child to a high-quality education.

The three resolutions are aimed at:

• ensuring the right to a high-quality educational program for all
• securing the right to remain in school through changing the policies and conditions which often lead children to drop out of school, including as a result of disciplinary exclusion or police and court referral
• ensuring for all youth who have left or been excluded from school or are incarcerated the right to resume their education in a high-quality, age-appropriate program that enables them to graduate and prepare for higher education.

• Videos of the complete Keynote and Plenary Panel presentations from the conference

• Conference materials, including Powerpoint Presentations and handouts from speakers

• On-line photo gallery of the conference

http://www.dignityinschools.org/national-conference