The school-to-prison pipeline pushes children out of the classroom and down a path that is devoid of the educational opportunities that should be nurtured within every child at every school.

Studies show that over disciplining students’ behavior in school does not result in better outcomes for students or schools. Instead, students that face punishment with exclusionary school discipline policies from expulsions to suspensions are more likely to fall behind academically. And the Agency of Education and others have found that students of color, students with disabilities, and low-income students are disproportionately expelled from class, increasing structural barriers and racial inequity for families often already struggling to succeed.[1]

The U.S. Department of Education found that young children who are suspended or expelled are 10 times more likely to drop out of high school, experience academic failure, hold negative attitudes toward school and face incarceration than those who are not.[2]

Any system of discipline that seeks to punish children by removing them from the classroom rather than addressing their needs fails the students and their families.

In Vermont, State Senator and current candidate for Congress Kesha Ram Hinsdale, spent more than 5 years organizing “Equitable and Inclusive School Environments” to win concrete steps forward in the fight to end the school to prison pipeline.

The law prohibits public schools from kicking kids under 8 out of school unless “the student poses an imminent threat of harm or danger to others.” And it created a task force to recommend ways “to end suspensions and expulsions for all but the most serious student behaviors” from kindergarten to high school.

It’s time for Congress to follow Vermont’s lead.

TELL CONGRESS:

End the School to Prison Pipeline and
Create Equitable and Inclusive School Environments Now!

We must take a different approach to school discipline that puts the needs of children first. By investing in restorative justice programs that provide children with the support they need to thrive in school, we can break the school-to-prison pipeline and give children, particularly children of color targeted by unequal enforcement, the opportunities they need to succeed.

Schools must take the time to work with students that may act out or are struggling in some way, not simply kick them to the curb and arrest them because of minor problems in the classroom.

By reforming student discipline practices we can overhaul a backward way of thinking that has schools punishing children instead of investing in their futures.

Sign on now to tell Congress: Break the School-to-Prison Pipeline Now.

[1] Exclusionary Discipline Response, Vermont Agency of Education
[2] POLICY STATEMENT ON EXPULSION AND SUSPENSION POLICIES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD SETTINGS, U.S. Department of Education Report