Petition to Revise the Disciplinary Policies in Penn Hills School District
- Target:
- Dr. Nancy J. Hines
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- docs.google.com
The Penn Hills School District treats students more like criminals than the aspiring intellectuals that they are.
African-American students, who make up the majority of the student body, face disparate suspension and police referral rates for misbehavior. The problem begins as early as preschool. African-American students represent 18% of preschool enrollment but 42% of students who are suspended once and 48% of those who are suspended multiple times1
Such suspensions can have a major consequence: Those affected are more likely to be incarcerated.
The American Civil Liberties Union, reporting in “Beyond Zero: Discipline and Policing Pennsylvania Public Schools,” found that Penn Hills School District has one of the highest rates of suspension in Pennsylvania. This district suspends Black and Latino students in disproportionate numbers: There is a 15% Black-White suspension gap.
Penn Hills also has the highest number of Student Resource Officers, which are School Police. Their presence further contributes to the perception of students as criminals and results in more police referrals for misbehavior.
According to the Schott Foundation, Black students are suspended the more frequently than any others throughout the nation.Research conducted by the Department of Education shows that students who are suspended are more likely not to graduate and that 40% of Black males without a high school diploma are 70% more likely to be imprisoned. These percentages are just as grim for African-American girls. The Children’s Defense Fund found that Black girls and boys represent 17% of the population aged 10 to 17 but 58 % of all juveniles sent to adult prison.
The school-to-prison pipeline, which often victimizes Black students, may be rooted in the disciplinary treatment they receive at school4.
The removal of children from school via zero-tolerance policies, which include suspension and police referral, only make it more difficult for students to succeed academically. These practices increase students’ chances of being incarcerated and not receiving a diploma.
The ACLU concludes that “zero-tolerance practices have failed to make schools safer and have taken away an opportunity to learn for many young people whose offenses were relatively minor.”
Punitive policies in The Penn Hills School District need to be altered because they contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline.
Works Cited
1. U.S Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Civil Rights Data Collection. Data Screenshot: School Discipline http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf
2.Beyond Zero: Discipline and Policing Pennsylvania Public Schools https://www.aclupa.org/files/5714/2436/0535/2-16-2015_FINAL_64204_ACLU_ONLINE.pdf
3. How to End Mass Incarceration: Put America's Thumb on their Pulses
Petition. ogle.com/document/d/1dqo3fDtlpoajs05wGqZFZEBQwckAMdhnwmGW2hRHqt8
4. Refer to The 2008 Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, “Kids for Cash” scandal. A news segment by NBC entitled “Pennsylvania Seeks to Close Books on Kids for Cash Scandal” can be found on nbcnews.com
We, the undersigned, insist that by the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, the disciplinary policies of the Penn Hills School District be revised.
The revision should transform discipline based on punishment into discipline based on restorative justice.
We demand an end to the zero-tolerance policy, a replacement of school police with school counselors, an end to out-of-school suspensions, a shift in school culture from punitive to restorative, and the institution of student input and decision-making power in responding to student behavior.
We also demand that the superintendent of Penn Hills, Nancy Hines, read the ACLU’s “ Beyond Zero: Discipline and Policing Pennsylvania Public School.” We also insist that leaders of Penn Hills School District follow up on The Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice’s recommendation to “develop programs that would support at-risk students and expand affordable and available diversionary programs.”
We appreciate your consideration. We, the undersigned, (students, residents, parents, teachers, and activists) are committed to working with the district to successfully implement these changes.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it