Interrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Another look into an absurd school discipline policy that totes a 6-year-old off to jail for having a tantrum during school. Elsewhere in this country, young students have been suspended and jailed for throwing a pencil at another student, doodling on a school desk, and having a food fight.

The absence of common sense discipline policies are detrimental to the future of youth, creating school-to-prison-pipeline that keeps students from an easier path to college or a career.

From the article “Interrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline”

 

Across the country, young people are being arrested for behavior that used to be solved through a trip to the principal’s office or the intervention of a counselor. In Florida, a 14-year-old was arrested and charged for throwing a pencil at another student and spent 21 days in jail. In New York, a 12-year-old was arrested for doodling, ‘I love Abby and Faith on her desk.’ In Chicago, 25 children, some as young as 11, were arrested for engaging in a food fight.

Supporters of zero tolerance policies say being tough on any infraction creates strong incentives to behave. But the reality belies that myth and cries out for the implementation of common sense discipline polices that ensure that students are put on a pathway to career or college rather than the destructive criminal justice system. Read more …