Youth

Calling it a "landmark policy", the media takes note as LAUSD votes 5-2 to end "willful defiance" suspensions and redefine the role of police in school discipline. The San Francisco Chronicle heralded as part of a nationwide educational trend to end the reliance on "zero tolerance" policys that swept the nation in the wake of the Columbine school shootings.

For the past month and half, as a founding member of the Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition, the Community Rights Campaign has been a part of leading the "School Climate Bill of Rights" campaign. We've seen the campaign raise the level of public debate. Here's a recap as we head into the LAUSD board vote tomorrow!

On January 29, 2013, the Community Rights Campaign and the Crenshaw Cougar Coalition headed to Washington D.C. to participate in a national forum held by the U.S. Department of Education at the demand of Journey for Justice, a grassroots coalition made up of students, teachers, parents, and community organizations.

By sending 600 armed LAPD patrols into our children’s schools, let us be clear that we are responding to violence with violence. Before we fall headlong down this path, we hope that LAUSD will reconsider and reflect deeply on the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: 'The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy…. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.'

It's September and back-to-school stories--and the CRC!--are in the news.
Our work rolling back the daytime curfew (truancy/tardy ticketing) in LA is capturing attention and shaping the national debate with stories in Atlantic Magazine, Time Magazine, LA Times, and Our Weekly.

We had a great rally to set the tone for the new school year. We urged LAUSD to adopt a more comprehensive plan to protect youth from discriminatory ticketing and overpolicing. There had been some solid progress earlier in the summer in our meetings with LASPD and LAUSD. But with students coming back to school, we need the District to take more concrete steps forward.

Community Rights member Ezinne Nwankwo writes about her trip to Ohio for the Children's Defense Fund Conference.