Youth

City Hall will vote next week on whether or not to roll back the infamous truancy law (LAMC 45.04). We are asking everyone to sign a petition to the Mayor, City Hall and city leaders to express our support for ending this assault on our most vulnerable students!

We are looking for support on over-turning the punitive truancy practices for LAUSD. Two vital votes will be held this month. The Public Safety Committee on Feb. 13th and the full LA City Council vote on Feb. 15th. We are collecting signatures on petitions and asking for support from students and their families to let our City leaders know where we stand.

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.

On February 2nd, the Los Angeles County Education Coordinating Council announced their decision to unanimously endorse the findings and recommendations from the multi-agency Student Attendance Task Force.

In her press release announcing the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) resolution to amend their daytime curfew law, Board President Monica García gives credit to the Community Rights campaign for their struggles to amend the law.

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 .

CRC student leaders are featured in the current issue of Rethinking Schools magazine, a special issue titled, "Stop the School to Prison Pipeline." The article, titled, "Arresting Development- Zero Tolerance and the criminalization of children," is by Annette Fuentes, who wrote a guest blog with the CRC in August.

In February, the Community Rights Campaign and several local and national allies--including Dignity in Schools Campaign, Padres & Jovenes Unidos, Youth United for Change and the Alliance for Educational Justice--will be working with the Advancement Project to host a national training in Los Angeles, one of four regional action camps to train school-to-prison pipeline organizers, activists and advocates from across the country.

Los Angeles' top judge for juvenile courts has released new guidelines to eliminate fines and unnecessary court time for students receiving truancy / tardy tickets.  The court will also direct students who miss school to school- and community-based resources that are shown to improve academic achievement and get struggling students back on track.  This is a major step toward CRC's goal of rolling back truancy and tardy ticketing that targets low-income students of color.