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

Media Advisory for the Conference from Northwestern

Article in Catalyst Chicago featuring DSC members and the campaign

The goal of the conference and the ongoing work of the Dignity in Schools Campaign is to reframe the national dialogue on school climate and discipline within a human rights framework and to affirm that the human right to an education includes:

• the full development of the child;
• the protection of human dignity;
• freedom from discrimination; and
• the right to participation of parents, students, and educators.

At the conference, participants discussed policies and practices that promote dignity in schools, shared successful advocacy, organizing, legal and media strategies being used on the ground, and generated ideas for national mobilization.

The Dignity in Schools Campaign is now working with conference participants to finalize a National Resolution on Ending School Pushout that was drafted at the conference. To participate in the ongoing work to finalize the National Resolution email us.

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

Read the Letter and Press Release.

To get involved email alternatives@dignityinschools.org

• Alice Farmer, Aryeh Neier Fellow, ACLU and Human Rights Watch
• Jane Hudson, Senior Staff Attorney, National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)
  "How Restraint/Seclusion is Pushing Students with Disabilities Out of School"
  Powerpoint presentation (also available in PDF)
• Matthew Cregor, Staff Attorney, Southern Poverty Law Center
  "How Education Stimulus Dollars Can Be Used to Solve Part of the Pushout Problem"
  View the Powerpoint presentation (also available in PDF)

http://www.aclu.org/racialjustice/gen/35385prs20080519.html