Across the country, school systems are shutting the doors of academic opportunity on students and funneling them into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. The combination of overly harsh school policies and an increased role of law enforcement in schools has created a “school-to-prison pipeline,” in which punitive measures such as suspensions, expulsions, tickets, and school-based arrests are increasingly used to deal with student behavior, and huge numbers of youth are pushed out of school and into prisons and jails. This is more than an education crisis; it's a racial justice crisis, because students pushed out are overwhelmingly Black and Brown.
This PMA will consider:
• What are “school-to-prison pipeline” conditions across the country in different regions and communities? What is happening locally, statewide and nationally that creates such conditions?
• What examples of organizing victories exist in dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline and winning alternatives? How can we learn from and amplify these victories? What organizing challenges exist and how can we overcome them?
• What kinds of demands should we place on school systems, law enforcement agencies, and local, state and national governments to weaken and dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline?
• What are new ideas and strategies for addressing the school-to-prison pipeline as well as broader strategies to address the national attack on students of color and public education?
With many organizations and communities across the country working to challenge these conditions, this PMA hopes to provide a space to learn from one another and discuss opportunities for national action and organizing.
