The media took notice as the Student Attendance Task Force released a report recommending "Have zero tolerance for zero-tolerance policies." and ensuring that students get adequate counseling in school before suspension.

In the latest advance in CRC's campaign to roll back punitive truancy/tardy ticketing, the elected board of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) yesterday voted to support City Councilmember Tony Cardenas' motion to amend the ticketing law itself .

Read a blog by Community Rights Member Elizabeth Chaidez on the human impact of incarceration.

Imagine being taken out of society, and forced to live in cell for 5, 10, 15 or maybe 20 years, or forever, for a crime you may or may have not committed. You do not have any human contact except when you are transferred from one place to another. However, when you are transferred you are handcuffed and chained by the waist like an animal.

Both High School and College campus newspapers respond to a victory for the community as LASPD adopts new protocols for enforcing daytime curfew and issuing truancy tickets to students.

We're really gaining ground in our fight for civil and human rights in our schools and communities. We need to highlight a few reasons why the policy changes on truancy/tardy ticketing that we won two weeks ago from LASPD are important. The media coverage was great but there's a few things they didn't cover.

This statement is from parents, students, and community and civil rights groups in response to a report released today about the Los Angeles Unified School District's implementation of the School-Wide Positive Behavior Support policy. The policy was adopted in 2007 with support from Public Counsel and CADRE parents to reduce out of school suspensions, particularly of students of color, and improve graduation rates, student performance and school culture. The report was conducted by the University of Oregon Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior in consultation with LAUSD leadership. Public Counsel, CADRE, Youth Justice Coalition, Community Rights Campaign and Children's Defense Fund are part of Dignity in Schools Los Angeles.

Media trumpeted the news as the Los Angeles School Police Department unveiled protocols intended to reduce the number of daytime curfew tickets written to students. The revised procedures are a result of collaboration and discussions between Public Counsel, the Community Rights Campaign, the ACLU of Southern California, Children's Defense Fund, CADRE, and Youth Justice Coalition - groups that work to keep students in school - and Los Angeles School Police Department (LASPD) leaders.

The collective voices of students and parents rang through the cities of Fresno, Sacramento, Oakland and Los Angeles as they demanded an end to the criminalization of their children, increased parental involvement in all school related decisions, and greater funding for schools. The event, which was hosted by the California Endowment, included a rally, a school to prison pipeline art installation and finished with a panel.

On Tuesday October 4, 2011, the Strategy Center held a screening of "Precious Knowledge:" The Love Struggle of Learning, a documentary about the battle to save the Ethnic Studies Program in Tuscan Unified School District. The documentary follows four high school seniors in the Mexican American Studies Program and their emotional journey to put an end to HB-2281.