Denver, Colorado - In Jefferson County, a 13-year-old boy was playing basketball on the school playground.  He slapped his friend’s behind after a good play—just as he had seen the Denver Nuggets players do the night before—and was arrested for unlawful sexual contact.  In Arapahoe County, an 11-year-old student broke a knick-knack on his teacher’s desk and was charged with criminal mischief and suspended from school.  According to Padres y Jovenes Unidos—a Denver-based non-profit organization—these stories are illustrative of a statewide problem of overly harsh school discipline policies that are pushing students into a “School-to-Jail Track.”  

Marco Nuñez, Organizing Director at Padres y Jovenes Unidos, explains that, “Nearly 100,000 Colorado students have been referred to law enforcement by their schools over the past ten years.  Most of these referrals were for minor misbehaviors that could have been dealt with by teachers and school administrators, rather than police.”  Nuñez explains further that, “Many of these students will fall behind in their studies, end up dropping out of school, and will have criminal records that will follow them for years to come.”

Opponents of harsh school discipline policies explain that their goal in fighting for reform is to create safe and effective schools for Colorado students.  Local advocates note that research has shown that harsh discipline policies have not made schools safer and, in fact, have made schools less safe, while costing school districts more money. 

To that end, on October 5^th Padres y Jovenes Unidos held a press conference in conjunction with the National Week of Action against School Push-Out led by the Dignity in Schools Campaign. The event in Denver, organized by the group, launched its “100 Days of Colorado Stories.”  As student leader, Dionna Hudson, explained, “Each day we will be releasing through press and social media a story of a Colorado student who has dealt with the push out. Through this campaign we will urge our legislators to end the school to jail track in Colorado through meaningful legislation. Our goal is to increase public awareness about the impact of current school discipline policies and encourage legislators to enact new legislation to better serve students.” 

Students like Dalilah Vasquez of Weld County. “Before being suspended, I was an honors student and was involved in many extra-curricular activities, including Student Council.  Since then, my grades have declined and my teachers tell me that I am a trouble-maker,” shared Dalilah. After being threatened by another student, the two eight-graders ended up fighting at school. Even though the fight was minor, the school suspended Dalilah for three days and called in the police who ticked her. “When I had to go to court, I was very nervous and felt like I was being punished for another person’s actions,” further described Dalilah. Her court resulted in 24 hours of community service and 32 hours of anger management classes. “I am disappointed by the level of unnecessary police involvement in my children’s schools for issues that should be resolved by school administrators. As a parent, I feel “let down” and disheartened by the way that my daughter was treated in her school,” her father, Julian Vasquez, stated in support of his daughter.  

While these harsh disciplinary practices affect students all across the state, according to Padres y Jovenes Unidos, they have been particularly harmful to Black and Latino students.  Statewide, Black students were suspended at a rate four times higher than that of White students in 2009-10.  During the same year, Latino students were twice as likely to be expelled as White students. 

“While many school districts around the state report zero referrals to law enforcement, many of the districts serving communities of color report hundreds or even thousands,” said Nuñez. “The behavior that in one school may get you a trip to the principal’s office, at worst, can get you expelled from school and arrested in another school.”  Researchers using data from the Colorado Department of Education found that in 2009-10, school districts with higher non-white student populations tended to have the highest numbers of student referrals to law enforcement and out-of-school suspensions.

Fidel “Butch” Montoya, retired Denver Manager of Safety, explained that, “Ending the School-to-Jail Track in Colorado is a pressing civil rights battle for Black and Latino youth.  Instead of being given the opportunity to learn from their mistakes like my peers and I were a generation ago, today’s students are being pushed out of school directly into the hands of the police for common youthful behaviors.  We risk losing a generation of our communities to the juvenile justice system if we don’t act now. We can do better for our kids.” 

Jocelyn Palomino, a current Denver Public Schools teacher shared her experience in the classroom, “As educators we can address this in many ways; unfortunately too many of us use a punitive approach to address this behavior either through suspension or referring students to the police. This does not solve the problems in our classrooms. I can tell you from firsthand experience there are alternatives, such as Restorative Justice.”

In response to calls from the Black and Latino communities to address racial disparities in the overly-harsh punishments of Colorado students, Denver Public Schools adopted a revised school discipline code in 2008.  The new school discipline policy directs school administrators to handle minor student misconduct, permits out-of-school suspension or expulsion only for serious misconduct, and requires schools to eliminate racial disparities in discipline, among other changes. 

Advocates are now pushing for similar changes at the state level.  Senate Bill 133, passed during the 2011 legislative session, established a task force of state legislators, students, parents, law enforcement officials, and community members who for the past several months have been examining the issue of school discipline. The SB-133 Task Force is expected to produce legislative recommendations in November and propose a bill to be voted on in the 2012 legislative session.

“We, as students, need the chance to learn from our mistakes and stay in school in order to be prepared for higher education and to become engaged citizens,” concluded Dionna.

- For more information, please contact Marco Nunez at marco@padresunidos.org.

- To share your story as a part of the 100 Days of Stories campaign, contact Sarah Brown at sarah@padresunidos.org.