How does the location of schools contribute to the existence of the school to prison pipeline?
By Neve Rivera
Many schools around America have different atmospheres within a school. Some schools have high rates of crime while other schools have a well established reputation and looked at as a "good" school. This distinctiveness is caused by the location of a school. In places such as Jefferson Parish, LA, school officials have given armed police "unfettered authority to stop, frisk, detain, question, search and arrest schoolchildren on off school grounds" (Elias 1). In fact, hundreds of school districts across the country employ discipline policies that push students out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system at startling rates- a phenomenon known as the school-to-prison-pipeline. Schools similar to the one in Jefferson, Parish are allowed to have armed police surrounded because of the amount of school violence. The amount of tension that violence in school creates is enough to distract students from concentrating on their studies. Violence is not ideal in school and the children who involve themselves with it cannot do well in school and end up ruining their future. Within the past year, The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) issued a report focusing on how the criminalization of school discipline is harming student's educational opportunities. Side by side, "the NYCLU report compares one map illustrating neighborhoods where police most frequently stopped and frisked school-age youth with another map illustrating rates of suspension by zip code" (Knefel 1). There data also concluded that there was "a correlation between neighborhoods whos students experience high rates of suspension and those with high rates of stop-and-frisk " (Knefel 1). The location of a school effects the school's success because what surrounds a school is what the school conforms into. When all children know is violence, they will bring that into a school setting which makes it difficult for teachers to achieve their goals for student's futures.
People, such as Marilyn Elias, have brought about solutions to end this phenomenon. Training teachers on the use of positive behavior supports for at-risk students, creating appropriate limits on the use of law enforcement in public schools, and increasing the positive behavior interventions and support are a few examples. Implementing these actions would be a start of encouraging students to focus on school. Taking away any negativity in their lives will make them ambitious of what they want to do in life. If the atmosphere of a school, starting with teachers, changes then the location of a school will start to not matter any more. Avoiding the school-to-prison pipeline would then change this outlook people have on "bad" schools that have "bad" kids. Instead, goals will be met and students will be driven to succeed.
Elias, Marilyn. "The School-to-Prison Pipeline." Teaching Tolerance. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
Knefel, Molly . "The School-to-Prison Pipeline: A Nationwide Problem for Equal Rights." Rolling Stone. Jann S. Wenner , 13 Nov. 2007. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.
People, such as Marilyn Elias, have brought about solutions to end this phenomenon. Training teachers on the use of positive behavior supports for at-risk students, creating appropriate limits on the use of law enforcement in public schools, and increasing the positive behavior interventions and support are a few examples. Implementing these actions would be a start of encouraging students to focus on school. Taking away any negativity in their lives will make them ambitious of what they want to do in life. If the atmosphere of a school, starting with teachers, changes then the location of a school will start to not matter any more. Avoiding the school-to-prison pipeline would then change this outlook people have on "bad" schools that have "bad" kids. Instead, goals will be met and students will be driven to succeed.
Elias, Marilyn. "The School-to-Prison Pipeline." Teaching Tolerance. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
Knefel, Molly . "The School-to-Prison Pipeline: A Nationwide Problem for Equal Rights." Rolling Stone. Jann S. Wenner , 13 Nov. 2007. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.