Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading…
Transcript

Solutions for Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline

and

Strengthening the Prison-to-School Pipeline

Three Intersectional Factors

What a child is born into/uncontrollable factors

  • Many factors that contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline are already in place even before a child enters the school system. Race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and family structure/support systems, are all complex and intersectional elements in determining a student's likelihood of become incarcerated in the future.

  • While many of the issues surrounding these factors are institutional and will require long-term solutions, there are still ways to support students born with a higher risk of becoming incarcerated.

Race/ethnicity

Race/ethnicity

  • Black students are suspended/expelled three times more than white students, even though there are no studies that prove Black students misbehave more

  • Black kids are more likely to be disciplined for subjective reasons, such as disrespect, whereas white kids commit more provable offenses

Short-term ideas:

  • Require a Chief Equity Officer in all schools
  • Continue to allow referrals from teachers, but the Officer must determine whether the referral is racially motivated/substantial enough to go to the police department

Long-term ideas:

  • District studies to compile data on racial/gender compositions of referrals
  • Promote school desegregation efforts

Potential solutions

Socioeconomic status

Socioeconomic status

  • Families in a low-income bracket have parents who are less able to support their child's education (helping with homework, encouraging engagement, etc.)

  • Low-income families can't supplement their child's education with extracurricular activities or provide money to supplement public funds for school staff/infrastructure/materials

  • Much harder for low-income communities to raise funds for their public schools

  • Poorly-resourced schools are often in low-income and segregated neighborhoods due to white flight

Potential solutions

Short term ideas:

  • Law requiring parents in high-income neighborhoods to give half of supplemental money raised during fundraisers to nearby poorly-resourced schools
  • Federal/state grant programs
  • State offices identify low-income and poorly resourced schools/districts
  • Create job position dedicated to applying for federal grants for schools/districts identified
  • Increase number of federal grants available specifically for low-income schools

Long term ideas:

  • Combating white flight and residential segregation
  • Educate middle class white people about the importance and benefits of diversity in schools

Family structure/community support systems

Family structure/support system

  • Parents are critical in establishing the importance of education, the development of self-confidence, and consistent academic engagement for students.

  • Without sufficient support at home, students will likely become disengaged at school, potentially leading to suspensions/expulsion, dropping out, lack of participation in classes, all leading to a higher chance of future incarceration

Potential solutions

Short term ideas:

  • Create community centers with services for students struggling academically and/or emotionally
  • Free tutoring
  • One-on-one buddy mentorship programs to provide emotional support and promote self esteem
  • Free access to psychiatrists and group therapy sessions

Long term ideas:

  • Not sure yet! Creating a culture that discourages the idea that parenthood is a necessary step in life to encourage people without the capacity to be loving parents not to have children?

Zero-Tolerance Policies

Middle/high school zero tolerance policies

  • Zero-tolerance policies were first adopted in the 1990s and became especially widespread after the Gun-Free Schols Act of 1994, which suspended students for a year after bringing a weapon to school (but left the definition of "weapon" largely up to interpretation).

  • The "broken windows theory" was prevalent after the Columbine shooting, and people felt safer when authorities cracked down on minor infractions.

  • This led to an increase in the presence of School Resource Officers, which led to more arrests in schools with SROs (five times more arrests in schools with SROs than without).

  • Exposure to the juvenile justice system increases the likelihood of adult incarceration.

  • Additionally, the adoption of zero-tolerance policies led to increases in suspension and expulsion rates, putting children behind academically and increasing the chance of future suspension/expulsion or entering the juvenile justice system.

Potential solutions

Short term ideas:

  • Mandatory conflict de-escalation and adolescent mental health training for SROs
  • Law requiring that SROs be certified counselors
  • Change name to School Resource Assistants to imply less authority
  • Invest in updated infrastructure to make schools feel less like jail
  • Alternatives to suspensions:
  • Mental health counseling and creating a plan with clear steps to avoid future misbehavior
  • Extra academic support/peer tutoring to increase academic engagement
  • Short courses educating students about their misbehavior (e.g. anger management, drug use, resolving conflicts)
  • Parent involvement only with student's consent
  • Alternatives to expulsions:
  • Referrals to residential mental health/anger management programs
  • Mandatory counseling sessions and community service
  • Group therapy sessions with students across districts
  • Homeschooling

Long term ideas:

  • Phase out the presence of SROs and metal detectors in schools entirely
  • Abolish the ability to try minors as adults

Creating a Prison-to-School Pipeline and Barring Discrimination Based Off of Criminal History

The label of "felon"

  • One way to counteract the S2PP is to create a prison-to-school pipeline. An increase in the number of formerly-incarceration individuals attending school benefits communities, as it leads to role models for formerly-incarcerated individuals, brings important perspectives to academic conversations, educates people who have never been incarcerated about the impacts of the carceral system.

  • However, having a criminal record impacts one's ability to find decent housing, a steady job, etc., all of which impact one's ability to go back to school (and all parts of life).

  • Additionally, Black children are disproportionately exposed to the criminal justice system during their formative years, leading to a higher likelihood of becoming a “felon.”

Potential solutions

Short term ideas:

  • Creating a prison-to-school pipeline
  • One-on-one mentorship programs with graduate students, doctoral candidates, professors
  • Bring formerly-incarcerated and college-educated individuals to speak in prisons so inmates know that education is for them too

Long term ideas:

  • Prohibiting discrimination based off of criminal record
  • Federal Ban the Box laws prohibiting employers from inquiring about an applicant's criminal history or taking criminal history into account during the hiring process and outlawing questions about criminal history on college applications
  • Amend the Fair Housing Act and Federal Employment and Housing Act to outlaw the denial of housing based on criminal record
  • Creating a prison-to-school pipeline by changing prison culture to one of rehabilitation rather than just punishment
  • Create state-funded programs allowing people to obtain a college degree while in jail
  • Mental health programming including anger management, conflict resolution, meditation, alternative coping mechanisms, etc.
Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi