Parents Rally for an End to Punitive Discipline
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About 50 Latino and African American parent activists from POWER-PAC (Parents Organized to Win, Educate and Renew – Policy Action Council) were joined by Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) at a bilingual rally and press conference Friday at Wells Community Academy High School, 936 N. Ashland Ave.
Parents called on Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to reduce suspensions and expulsions in favor of positive alternatives, such as the parent-run Peace Center, a restorative justice program currently operating at Wells School.
“At a time when CPS is talking about extending the school day to give students more time, it is sad to see Chicago students losing tens of thousands of days of class time each year to suspensions and expulsions,” said Lynn Morton, POWER-PAC leader and coordinator of the group’s school-based Peace Centers. “We have alternatives that work. We don’t need to send students out onto the streets.”
POWER-PAC’s event coincided with the National Week of Action on School Pushout, a coordinated initiative of the national Dignity in Schools Campaign to call attention to the consequences of punitive, “zero-tolerance” discipline policies that activists say have gone too far.
The group pointed to statistics that nearly 45,000 CPS students, disproportionately students of color, were suspended at least once in the 2009-2010 school year. About 410,000 students in all attend CPS’ more than 500 schools.
“Restorative justice is about repairing the harm, instead of just punishment for punishment’s sake,” said Felipa Mena, Wells parent and co-chair of POWER-PAC. “We work with students to get to the root of the problem. Other schools should do the same.”
A student speaker and Wells Principal Ernesto Matías seconded the parents’ sentiments.
“I think every school should have a peace center,” Wells student Marlene Álvarez said.
Parents cheered as Burnett announced his support for a Chicago City Council resolution that POWER-PAC and other community organizations are promoting. The resolution, which will be introduced by Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), would call on CPS to reduce suspensions and expulsions by 40 percent through the implementation of restorative justice.
“I don’t think that we need to push young people out of school,” Burnett said. “We need to figure out ways to keep them in school and help them to get an education.”
POWER-PAC launched its Elementary Justice Campaign six years ago and has been successful in getting restorative justice approaches built into the CPS Student Code of Conduct. The group says that in addition to its own programs at three schools, dozens more schools are using alternative discipline approaches, but that too many still resort to punitive practices like out-of-school suspensions and expulsions.
POWER-PAC is a project of COFI (Community Organizing and Family Issues).
Originally published here - http://austintalks.org/2011/10/chicago-parents-rally-for-an-end-to-punit...