We All Know the School-to-Prison Pipeline is a Problem – How Can We Seal It?

By Frank Knaack Associate Director of Public Policy and Advocacy We have all heard the stories.  Children given criminal tickets for throwing a paper airplane in class, using profanity in school, talking back to a teacher … the list goes on.  While this behavior must not be condoned, I hope we can all agree that sending children into the juvenile and criminal justice systems for minor disciplinary transgressions is extreme (and counterproductive). In addition to the use of these extreme tactics for controlling childish misbehavior, we also know that students of color and special education students are disproportionately impacted.  Just last week, the U.S. Department of Education released new data showing that African American students were 3 ½ times more likely than their white peers to be expelled.  Sadly, appalling data like this is nothing new. Well … what can we do about it?  Join the ACLU of Texas and numerous other civil rights organizations at a community conference in Houston titled Civil Rights in the 21st Century: Uniting Communities for Justice.  This conference will provide an overview of the school-to-prison pipeline and, more importantly, will unite our community.  Our goal is to use this conference to as an opportunity to form a broad and diverse coalition of organizations and concerned community members dedicated to sealing, once and for all, the school-to-prison pipeline.  Join us! To learn more about the conference and find out how to register please visit www.civilrightscoalition.net.