Community Rights Campaign Breakthrough:

LAUSD Board Member Tamar Galatzan and Councilmember Tom LaBonge Withdraw Motion in Support of "Truancy Tickets" Inside LAUSD Schools...important next steps needed!

We are pleased to announce that LAUSD Board Member Tamar Galatzan and Councilmember Tom LaBonge have withdrawn their motions to deputize police officers to issue LA Municipal Code 45.04 Daytime Curfew Citations, popularly known as "Truancy Tickets," inside LAUSD schools.  Ms.  Galatzan will now be chairing an agenda item on Truancy and Attendance at the October 20^th Board meeting, where Community Rights Campaign organizers will be presenting.

This announcement comes after less than a month of organizing parents, students and teachers, and working with allies and other LAUSD and City Council members.  We want to in particular thank CADRE, Community Coalition, Dignity in Schools, Inner City Struggle, and Youth Justice Coalition for their fast response.  We also want to thank LAUSD Board President Mónica Garcia and her staff, Board Members Yolie Flores Aguilar and Steve Zimmer for their timely support, and LA Councilmember Tony Cardenas who has introduced a motion seeking information on the magnitude and impacts of the enforcement of LAMC 45.04.  We commend LAUSD Boardmember Galatzan and Councilmember Tom LaBonge for taking into account the concerns raised by parents, students, educational advocates, and their own colleagues on the LAUSD Board and LA City Council. 

The decision to withdraw the motion shortly followed a successful action on King and Vermont led by our Community Rights Taking Action students (click here for event report [1] )

Check out some of the media highlights:

• Channel 7-ABC [2]
• Channel 34-Univision [3]
• Channel 62-Noticias  [4]
• KPCC-Air Talk with Larry Mantle [5]
• The Wave: Students speak out against altering of truancy laws [6]
• La Opinion:  En contra de darle más poder a la policía escolar [7]
• KPFK interview on Truancy Tickets [8]

Next Step: Advancing this breakthrough towards the goal of winning a moratorium on truancy tickets and implementation of positive alternatives.

The proposal to ticket students for "truancy" on campus was a particularly egregious proposal.  We must celebrate the withdrawal of the proposal by Ms. Galatzan but we cannot stop there. It is now time to really push for a suspension and ultimate repealing of this law. These "truancy tickets" are routinely given to low-income, Black and Brown LAUSD students throughout the county. In fact, more than 15,000 were issued in 2007, and more than 30,000 in the 2008/2009 school year!  These tickets are a part of a "zero tolerance" approach to school discipline that has been proven to push out Black and Brown students.  These tickets are also part of "broken windows" policing, which criminalizes whole communities and people.

What We Need You to Do:

1. Attend the October 20^th LAUSD Board Meeting [9] on Attendance and Truancy at 1pm where Community Rights Campaign organizers will be presenting! Please email lisa@thestrategycenter.org [10] if you can attend.
2. Help us collect stories from youth and parents [11] who have received truancy tickets-this is REALLY important as we prepare for the October 20^th Board meeting. 
3. Sign and help circulate open letters in support of a moratorium on "truancy tickets - email kendra@thestrategycenter.org [12] if you can help!
4. Share your ideas on non-criminalizing alternatives to ticketing-email lisa@thestrategycenter.org [13] with your ideas!