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Hello Dignity in Schools Campaign Members and Allies!
What an amazing Week of Action, full of local events showcasing the leadership of youth, parents and teachers in the fight to end school pushout! DSC members have truly outdone themselves this year with over 100 events in 52 cities hosted by more than 70 organizations, making this year our biggest Week of Action ever (by far!).
Across the country, our members delivered the message that we will not rest until every student receives a quality education that allows them to reach their full potential. We will be getting updates from everyone who did an event in the coming weeks so check out our website for more information.
See photos from actions across the country!
Check out the full list of events from over 50 cities!
Below are some initial highlights from actions that took place. Please send us photos, videos, media articles and other information about your events so that we can share them as well! Please send updates about your local campaigns to DSC's Communications Coordinator Nancy Treviño to include in next month’s e-newsletter!
Highlights from Local 2014 Week of Action Events
The week kicked off on Saturday, October 4th with events all weekend, including a March and Rally Against School Pushout hosted by Gwinnett SToPP and allies in Atlanta GA. On Monday actions continued in over a dozen cities, including Long Beach, CA, where Youth Justice Coalition and California Conference on Equality and Justice held the event, Think Outside the Cage: Youth Success Over Youth Incarceration.
Several organizations—including Save the Kids, Erie County Coalition for Restorative Justice, CADRE, members of the Mississippi Delta Catalyst Roundtable, and GSA Network local affiliates—held creative events throughout the entire week, from prisoner letter writing circles, to radio call in shows, to classroom observations.
DSC National Coordinator, Natalie Chap joined events in Chicago, including Project NIA’s youth created theater, PUSHED OUT: An Interactive Youth-Led Experience of the School to Prison Pipeline, and COFI/POWERPAC’s meeting between parents and Chicago Public School officials.
On Thursday, Power U Center for Social Change held a town hall meeting and rally on the school-to-prison pipeline in Miami, FL, and on Friday DSC members Youth Organizing Institute, NC Heat and Education Justice Alliance hit the streets in Raleigh, NC, where they were joined by DSC Field Organizer, Fernando Martinez, for a march and rally from a local school to the central prison. Earlier in the week on Monday they held a press conference outside of the police department.
DSC member Missouri GSA Network closed out the Week of Action by participating in #FergusonOctober, including a chalk walk project envisioning the schools and the world they wanted to see.
Charter School Accountability Guidelines Release and Actions in Dayton, OH
Wednesday, October 8th was a big day for the national campaign as we released our Accountability Guidelines on School Pushout and Charter Schools with a press conference and panel hosted by local DSC member Racial Justice Now! (RJN) in Dayton, OH. DSC members from Youth on Board in Boston and FFLIC in New Orleans, traveled to Dayton to put a spotlight on charter school practices in their communities.
Earlier in the week, Racial Justice Now! also released their Ohio School Discipline Report Card, garnering media coverage and generating conversations with school district officials across the state about discipline in both traditional public and charter schools.
National Leadership Summit in D.C.
At the beginning of the Week of Action, DSC members from nine states traveled to Washington, DC to participate in the National Leadership Summit on School Discipline and Climate organized by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice.
DSC members spoke on panels, participated in state-level teams and co-sponsored a reception with The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, featuring a photo exhibit from DSC member Critical Exposure.
Stay Tuned for More!!
This is just a small sample of the events held over the course of the week, there just isn’t space here to showcase them all. We will be releasing a highlights video with footage and photos from local events across the country, and continuing to update our website as we get more detailed updates from folks who were on the ground at each event.
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Member of DSC today!
RESOURCES
U.S. Department of Education Resource Equity Guidance
The U.S. Department of Education issued new guidance encouraging states and districts to ensure equitable distribution of school resources in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Resource equity includes equitable distribution of trained and qualified teachers, access to school social workers and other support staff, professional development training on cultural competency, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Social and Emotional Learning.
UPCOMING EVENTS
RETHINKING EDUCATION REFORM: A HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE
November 6-7
Boston, MA
DSC members NESRI and FFLIC will present about human rights, school discipline and privatization. Learn more here.
IN THE NEWS
From St. Louis to South LA, American Youth Move the Moment
The Nation, StudentNation, October 14, 2014
Op-ed: Push Back On School Pushout of LGBT Youth
Advocate.com, Abram Bolanos, October 10, 2014
Protesters Rally to Bring Attention to Racial Discrepancies in School Suspensions
TWC News Buffalo, Katie Cummings, October 8, 2014
YOUTH ACTION: ‘We Don't Call Them Dropouts; We call them Pushouts, Because that's what Happened to Them’
Dig Boston, CHRIS FARAONE, October 7, 2014
New Orleans Participates In National Week Of Action Against School Pushout
WWNO, Mallory Falk, October 7, 2014
Youth activists protesting Wake County's school-to-prison pipeline
News Observer, T. Keung Hui, October 6, 2014
March and rally to support LGBT school students set for Oct. 4
GA Voice, Delwyn Andrews, October 3, 2014
About Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC)
The Dignity in Schools Campaign is a national coalition of youth, parents, advocates, community-based organizations, educators and policymakers working together to seek human rights-based solutions to the systemic problem of pushout in U.S. schools.
Follow us at @DignityinSchool
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