|
BSAC and Friends are
Listening to Students...
Raising Awareness about Students' Rights
and Zero Tolerance
_______________________________________________________________
Greetings!
BSAC participated in a Listening Project on Tuesday, October 4th to help raise awareness of the School to Prison Pipeline and the high rate of suspensions in public schools. BSAC collaborated with Dignity in Schools' for their National Week of Action on School Pushout.
BSAC members, along with young people from youth-led groups El Movimiento and BYOP (Boston-area Youth Organizing Project), went to Ruggles, Roxbury Crossing, and Forest Hills T-Stations to listen to community members' stories regarding their experiences with unfair and zero tolerance punishments. Students collected hundreds of stories from young people.
BSAC has been working on a district and national level to develop restorative justice strategies that move us away from unfair discipline practices. This event helped us better understand the experiences of our fellow students and raise awareness of the issues they are facing.
BSAC members asked:
- Have you been told your rights as students?
- Do you know anyone who was encouraged to drop out?
- Have you ever been punished for voicing your opinion at school?
We appreciate the support and hard work of all those who made the event such a great success.
Next Steps
Community members and students will meet to debrief the event and decide how to move forward with the information they learned. This meeting is open, so please join us if you are interested.
The debrief will be:
TODAY!
3:30 - 5:30
Friday, October 7, 2011
33 Harrison Street, 5th Floor
Boston, MA
We will continue to fight against zero tolerance and work to increase the use of restorative justice in the Boston Public Schools - please follow us for next steps. For further information or to get involved contact bsac@boston.k12.ma.us.
| 
