 Great, thank you and welcome everybody. We have a full house, which I'm really excited about It's a really important issue. I am Jessica Cartichon. I'm the director of Federal policy and the DC office for the Learning Policy Institute. We are honored to have you all here at our briefing Creating safe and inclusive schools of federal role in addressing discriminatory school discipline We have a number of thank yous to get through so just bear with me But we're really appreciative of the amount of support for this event first I'd like to thank our congressional co-sponsors senator Christopher Murphy from Connecticut and senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts who are members of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee and Representative Bonamici Who will be hearing from later from Oregon who chairs the House subcommittee? It's a new subcommittee on civil rights, and you'll be hearing from her more later We'd also like to recognize our co-sponsoring organizations for this event the advancement project the dignity in schools campaign the education trust Educators for excellence the National Association of Secondary School Principles the National Education Association the Southern Education Foundation Unidos, US and UNCF Many of these partners were the first to draw attention to the use of exclusionary discipline policies and practices and their disproportionate impact on students of color and other historically underserved students our Cosponsors who were honored to have a spent decades advocating for the data on these disparities Evidence-based actions for addressing them and federal oversight when students civil rights are violated We are appreciative of their support as well as our congressional co-hosts and their tireless efforts on behalf of students While discriminatory discipline policies and practices occur at the state and local level The federal government has a number of critical tools for supporting state and local efforts to address the issue and a number of legal Obligations to step in when students civil rights are violated and policies are implemented in a discriminatory way regardless of intent Today we're going to share more about that role the impact of these policies the federal guidance on school discipline issue during the previous Administration and rescinded under this administration and research-based best practices for creating safe and inclusive learning environments for all students We are honored to begin with remarks from Cheryl Eiffel the president and direct counsel of the NAACP legal defense and education fund Cheryl and began her career her legal career as a fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union and then spent five years as an assistant counsel On LDF's New York office among her successful litigation efforts was the landmark voting rights act case Houston lawyers association versus attorney general of Texas In which the Supreme Court held that judicial elections are covered by the provisions of section 2 of the voting rights Act a critically acclaimed author her book on the courthouse lawn confronting the legacy of lynching in the 21st century Reflects her lifelong engagement in it in an analysis of issues of race and American public life We were also so honored at LPI to have her serve on our board. So please join me in welcoming Sherilyn Thank you so much Jessica and thank you all of you for coming out today and and packing this room Obviously this building is a buzz today Lots of excitement with the bar testimony happening a few floors down And I don't want to minimize how critically important that is we are at a very serious moment in our democracy and As I often tell people and as I feel compelled to say when I speak publicly, there's no guarantee we come out of this As a true democracy we can be a veneered democracy But it's going to take our work. It's going to take our very serious focus. It's going to take our recognition of what is happening in this moment It's going to take our unrelenting energy Because I know we get tired, but our unrelenting energy and keeping our foot on the gas to fight for those things that we believe in And yet I find it very fitting that also in this building is this gathering Because the future of our democracy also hinges on our children and our young people and The messages that we send our children and our young people about who they are In our society and what we require and need of them and You're being here today demonstrates your commitment and understanding of that important fact. I I do serve on the board of the Learning Policy Institute not because I have any time to serve on boards. I don't But because LPI does such extraordinary and important work and I feel I must acknowledge Linda Darling Hammond who's who couldn't be with us today Because of family commitments back on the West Coast but she is truly an exceptional leader in the field of education and She wears it very lightly. She is a wonderfully focused and humble person who does not seek And a grandizement for herself but who has remained committed over decades to truly understanding what our children need to excel and She was recently named the president of the board of education of state of California and sometimes I think we let these things just pass like whatever But it's a big deal and we often feel doing this work that we're on the outside looking in trying to speak truth to power and We should take a moment and recognize those moments When we have earned our way and forced our way into seats of power where we can make real transformation happen So I want to acknowledge Linda and her extraordinary work and her leadership and the entire team at LPI for the work that they do This year marks the 65th anniversary of Brown versus Board of Education, which will celebrate on May 17th in a couple of weeks and I know that Linda was here testifying about you know Brown and integration And so I'm not going to actually get into that because we're here to talk about school discipline I actually want to make sure that you understand What I think is kind of the unsung part of the Brown decision that is relevant to our commitment to this issue and to education in in general We know that the Supreme Court outlawed separate but equal in education segregated education This was monumental a transformational shift in the trajectory of American democracy The outlawing of Jim Crow the ending of formal legal apartheid in this country We should not but brush past that as though that was some inevitable thing that was going to happen in this country It took dedication work focus strategy and It also took the resilience of many of our forebears who had to make it through those challenging decades and years Living as second-class citizens in a country in which they should have been full citizens So we know the Supreme Court said that in Brown, but the Supreme Court said Two other things the Supreme Court said In its majority opinion in Brown that education May be the most important function of state and local government I'm not sure we spend a lot of time talking about the fact that the Supreme Court articulated that in Brown in 1954 And I'm not sure that we're ready to readily answer the question in whatever states we are in As to whether we believe that the articulated policies and practices of our states and our cities Reflect that education is the most important function of that government So first of all understanding that as we commemorate Brown We should understand that the Supreme Court articulated a place for education Within state and local government that it was regarded to be the most important function And it was the most important function of our state and our cities Within state and local government that it was regarded to be the most important function And the court also said it was impossible to imagine how a person could become successful in society without access to education and The court called it education the foundation of citizenship The foundation of citizenship This is very important Education as the foundation of state and local government The most important function and education as the foundation of citizenship That means that whatever else we're doing whatever else is happening in this building if we are to build citizens for this country We have to turn our attention To what is happening in our education system School discipline is a piece of it It's not the whole But it's a powerful and important piece That is reflective of many of the larger challenges that we face in our in our education system and quite reflective of our our moral dedication to young people or Lack of moral dedication to young people So day before yesterday we filed a case in federal district court in the northern district of New York Now most of LDS work is in the south remains in the south always has been 52% of black people live in the south and so we are unapologetic about our focus on the south and We've certainly worked on school discipline issues in the south some of you may remember That in 2013 we filed a complaint with the Department of Education challenging the school discipline practices of The Brazos County independent school district where the school was issuing issuing classy misdemeanor tickets to high school students for swearing and That was an important case because it was important to help the Department of Education Understand how these issues play out in schools. It was important to the families In that school district to understand how and that they could challenge these kinds of practices And to reveal the racial disparities that were very evident in this practice of beginning young people on the path As part of the school to prison pipeline But day before yesterday we filed the case in the northern district of New York Based on an incident that happened January 15th this year for girls African-american and Latino were in their school in the East middle school in Binghamton When they were asked by the principal to Be pulled aside and and with the principal the assistant principal and a nurse were stripped searched The principal said that the reason that he pulled the girls aside to be stripped searched is because they were giggling and They seemed hyper And the girls are all 12 years old in that strip search The nurse and the assistant principal Put their hands down the bra of the girls asked the girls to pull their pants down One of the school officials who was part of the strip search commented on the on the maturity of the body of one of the black girls about the size of her breasts and then the assistant principal talked about her own breasts being not quite as robust and Then they found nothing and they sent the girls back to class When the parents complained and the girls had asked for their parents to be called their parents were never called When the girls complained obviously the parents were outraged The girls were having a terrible reaction. They were embarrassed. They were humiliated They felt unsafe in the school school space as you can imagine. They asked to be transferred to the school on the west side but instead the school Issued an in-school suspension to one of the girls and then sent all four girls to an alternative school That that was designed for Students who have multiple disciplinary infractions and there at the alternative school. They were kept separated from the other students Their instruction amounted to an hour or two a day with some Google searches and worksheets and Then they spent the rest of the day in isolation listening to music or watching YouTube videos and that was their instruction for weeks So we filed to two days ago in federal district court raising constitutional and statutory claims on behalf of these four young girls and The question that I've been really wrestling with and that I think lies at the heart of this of this case and at the heart of this work From our perspective is do black and brown? Girls and boys get to be children Do they have the right to be children? Do they have the right to giggle in the hallway? Do they have the right to seem hyper when they're 12 years old? If we can't answer that question in the affirmative Then we have broken a contract with our young people and particularly with our young students of color About who they are in this society because obviously if you are a second-class citizen as a child We cannot expect you to be a first-class citizen as an adult and so this case raises this powerful issue of how do we address this issue of School discipline disparities and what they do to young people There's no question that race plays a critical role in How young people are targeted for school discipline we sometimes spend some time just in the office laughing about our own school discipline stories and You know my mind was getting thrown out of a class my math class for correcting the math teacher About a misspelling of a word that he had on a flyer. I mean that was me You know I would do that, but he literally he literally told me get out Get out I had to leave the classroom and So we shared these stories when we're laughing, but they're actually not funny They're actually not funny when we begin to catalog the ways in which we were humiliated diminished Or otherwise made to feel that to express ourselves as young people within the schoolhouse Was something that was forbidden and There's this strange juxtaposition and contrast that I saw and see actually in the Binghamton case In which while the strip search is happening one of the nurses said I don't want to be left alone with the girls because they seem scary and aggressive right, so there's the duality of Treating these girls as though they are older and aggressive while also denigrating and subjecting them to this kind of dehumanizing conduct Now I don't deny that there are disciplinary problems with young people in schools There always have been and there always will be and the question is how do we address those disciplinary problems? And how do we ensure that the disciplinary regimes that we create? Do not reinforce The kind of racist messages that have been sent to black and brown children for so long In our society and as you know the Obama administration was well on the way to helping local school districts do that by the guidance that it issued around school disparities and discipline helping school districts and schools Understand school officials understand how they could consider race Helping them understand what were the kinds of alternative supports they needed the kind of training that would be necessary and so forth but the Trump administration is a different kettle of fish entirely and That kind of brings us to the point of this of this conversation today And it's very much in keeping with the challenge that we're facing and I know I'm timing out But I want to end here the challenge that we're facing at LDF Because the federal government being a front in the battle is a kind of a new phenomenon I know everyone says we've been here before but we actually haven't been quite here before I can tell you from LDF's work You know we turn 80 years old next year most of our work over the course of that 80 years has been challenging state and local government Practices that are discriminatory or private parties right, you know corporations and employment discrimination or you know home owners or landowners or Real estate owners like you know Donald Trump engaging in housing discrimination right that that's been the meat and potatoes of our work And while we have struggled with various administrations in the federal government It actually has not been the case that the federal government has been a fully armed front in the battle for civil rights That is in opposition But the truth is now it kind of is and Much of what we're fighting against our policies and practices coming out of the federal government And that's a real challenge for us So one of the reasons that I wanted to speak today is that I wanted to encourage us to remember and to fight for The proper role of the federal government in the civil rights landscape It's we simply can't throw up our hands and say oh my goodness. This is a hostile Administration Betsy DeVos doesn't get it Or she does get it and and she's going another way We actually have the right to demand that this federal government Deploy the resources that it has available to it to enforce the nation's civil rights laws and This is not a time when we should stop speaking truth to power when we should stop litigating When we should stop challenging when we should stop demanding or when we should be giving them a pass to think that We're going to just accept what they're offering We need resources to be able to create the kind of school disciplinary practices that we know are humane and that are worthy of our children The ACLU released a report. I think it was last year That the cataloged the number of students who are in schools with no counselors or mental health supports So one point seven million students are in schools with police, but no counselors three million students are in schools with police But no nurses Six million students are in schools with police, but no school psychologists 10 million students are in schools with police, but no social workers and 14 million students are in schools with police, but no counselor nurse psychologist or social worker So we know that students have discipline problems because they're young people because they're very often dealing with fractious and difficult situations at home. We released a report last year on school discipline disparities and girls in the Baltimore City schools and copies of the report are available. We recognize that many of these girls are going through very difficult and traumatic circumstances because of things happening in their homes and their communities. And we recognize that that may result in acting out in school. But they need those resources that I just described as being absent from most school buildings to help them navigate a world they did not create but that they are trying to make sense of every day. And we need the resources from the federal government to ensure that our schools have those individuals available to young people to help them navigate the world that we created not that they created that we created. So I want to thank you for demonstrating your commitment by being here today for recognizing that we have to hold this administration's feet to the fire on behalf of our children. I encourage you as we approach the 65th anniversary of Brown versus Board of Education to walk powerfully in the light of that decision to walk powerfully in the transformational words of the Supreme Court in that decision to demand that your state and local governments live up to what the Supreme Court said was the most important function of their government and that is providing a quality integrated education for our children. Thank you. Thank you so much. I spend a little bit of time before we move into our moderated discussion just talking a little bit about the context for this work which Sheryl and to eloquently brought us through. So I'll move through it fairly quickly. A lot of this information is available in our report and will be the PowerPoint will be available on our website as well. So I will go through it fairly quickly. Also my comms team told reminded me that I should let you know we have a hashtag safe inclusive schools. I do not tweet so that's why that didn't sound very natural as I described it. So before we move into our moderated discussion I'm going to just briefly discuss a little bit about the federal role some of the impact of these types of policies and some research based practices to address to reduce the use of exclusionary disciplinary policies overall and their disparate impact. So past federal administrations and congresses recognizing their critical role in addressing inequality often acted to address disparities in violations in students civil rights that have been left unresolved by the states or the district. These laws enabled the Department of Justice and the Department of Education to address violations through investigation and litigation. The extent to which different administrations have chosen to leverage these federal resources tools and obligations to advance civil rights has changed over time. Some administrations have chosen to take strong action not only to enforce protection under the law but to prevent instances of discrimination from even arising. We've talked a lot about zero tolerance policies which is very briefly these policies really began in the early 1990s and they were intended to apply strong punishments for particular infractions at the time. So including removing students from the classroom for violent offenses. They were meant in design to deter behavior by assigning extremely harsh punishments to that would be certain in the instances of those behavior. These policies might have initially been intended to apply for to apply to behavior that involved weapons drugs or acts of violence. However over time and not over a lot of time they began to be applied to more subjective nonviolent offenses such as willful defiance which is a term that we hear but talking in class tardiness truancy. They also in addition to suspensions and expulsions can be accompanied with some type of juvenile court involvement or fines placed on parents as well. The impact of zero tolerance policies is heavily documented. The most important note that I'll make is they have not done anything to make our school safer. They have not as research shows done anything to reduce instances of behavior. They've actually had the reverse effect what instead we are seeing that students who are suspended at least once or have some type of exclusionary discipline disciplinary policy applied to them have lower academic success higher rates of grade retention lower graduation rates and are more likely to become involved in the juvenile justice system. The impact is disproportionate. I don't want to spend too much time on this to feed into a narrative that exists that somehow it's attributable to behavior which I'll get to in a minute but the research is very clear that the disparities in student discipline are not a result of student behavior. They also do not we also see disparities not only among students of color students with disabilities have higher rates of suspension students from low income families female students students English language learners students are LGBTQ. Every category of historically underserved students have higher rates of student discipline and higher rates of student discipline. These as a Sherilyn spoke earlier about her work in the south these trends are particularly pronounced in the south and 132 southern school districts African-American students were disproportionately suspended at rates five times higher than their representation in the school pop student population. And these disparities are not due to student behavior. White students are often referred to the office for significantly for more frequent for offenses that appear more capable of objective documentation smoking vandalism leaving the school without permission in contrast African-American students were referred more often for disrespect excessive noise threat and loitering behaviors that would require more subjective judgment by the adults in the building extensive research suggests that these disparities are caused in least in part by cultural mismatch or insufficient training in culturally responsive classrooms and management practices perceptions about student behavior often a result of implicit bias than actual student behavior which is often an accurate claim not supported by the research and often used to try and excuse discriminatory behavior. Civil rights activists and other organizations called on the previous administration to support states and districts in addressing this issue and in response issue joint non-binding guidance by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice this includes this included information and examples for schools regarding how to determine the existence of intentional discrimination and disparate impact and identify the appropriate remedies. There was nothing binding in the guidance and there was nothing that prevents districts from using exclusionary disciplinary policies in the cases of violent offenses despite I'm sorry the guidance was rescinded in December by the Trump administration using a school safety commission report that was released prior to that as justification despite the minimal research cited in the 180 page report. Among the few references to research included in the report is a study that claims that the relationship between suspensions and race is likely produced by pre-existing behavioral problems of youth that are imported into the classroom. The influence of racial bias is not at all accounted for in the commission's report. The study's conclusion go beyond the research or the evidence presented and rather the research shows a relationship sorry the documented research shows a relationship between adults perceptions of students social skills and student behaviors. If those possessions sorry if those perceptions are clouded by racial bias then the findings would confirm the manifest role of race in suspensions. In the years leading up to last year's recisions as more and more states moved away from exclusionary discipline policies our schools became safer. There's still significant work ahead. There's still safety threats to our school. However the data shows that the implementation of alternatives to exclusionary disciplinary policies have actually led to a decrease in crimes at the school level. The rescission of the one thing to note that although the guidance is has been rescinded those practices can still be implemented at the state and local level and it does not eliminate the federal requirement that schools are legally obligated to administer student discipline without discrimination. Included in our report are a number of research-based practices that have been shown to reduce the use of the reduce the use of exclusionary discipline policies but more importantly have also increased student test scores student graduation rates and students feelings of self-worth and empowerment and so it's really important that when we talk about removing exclusionary disciplinary policies that there are actual practices that can be replaced. California is one state one of the leading states in these efforts and implemented a number of policies and one thing to note that by reducing by removing these policies they actually saw 77% decline in suspensions for willful defiance and exclusions dropped by 40% and at the same time their high school graduation rates increased to 82% within about five years. A number of other states are following the lead we just highlighted a few of them around passing legislation banning the use of exclusionary disciplinary practices replacing them with restorative justice approaches and most importantly adding additional funding to train staff and all adults who come into contact with students on implicit bias on culturally responsive practice on restorative justice practices. And so with that we're going to move into our moderated discussion in a moment but we are really honored to have Representative Bonamici here to join us one of our co-sponsors for the organization so we will we welcome remarks from the Congresswoman before we move into our panel. A congresswoman Bonamici who represents the first congressional district of Oregon is a leader on the Education Labor and Education and Labor Committee and chair of the subcommittee on civil rights and human services. The congresswoman has been a long advocate for equity and education policy and funding. Representative Bonamici is a champion for protecting civil rights and ending discrimination based on race, gender, LGBTQ status and socioeconomic status. The congresswoman's entire career has been dedicated to setting national policies that ensure that students aren't unsafe, inclusive and welcoming environments. We are really honored to have you here and please join me in welcoming you. Thank you so much. What a wonderful turnout. This is a wonderful timing because just yesterday the Education and Labor Committee had a hearing recognizing the 65th anniversary of Brown versus Board of Education where we of course acknowledged that we had as a country made some progress but we have yet to fulfill the promise of that landmark case and we talked about the critical work that is ahead to achieve educational equity in public education. Dr. Darling Hammond was one of our witnesses. I know she went back home to her new grandchild but it was wonderful to have her there yesterday. So thank you to the Learning Policy Institute for continuing this conversation on the federal role of addressing discriminatory school discipline. I want to, before I get into my remarks, acknowledge my staff, Jessica. And I have with me today shadowing Lauren from Chicago is here with Girls, Inc. So I think it's wonderful that she's here. So please wave, Lauren. So let me say hello. So the federal role in education is really about advancing equity and you know many of the federal education bills came about in the civil rights era as part of the civil rights movement. So as the chair of the new subcommittee on civil rights and human services we will be fighting to advance equity in our public education system and we look forward to exploring issues at the intersection of education and equity. And there is mounting evidence and you're hearing about it today and research confirming that students of color are disproportionately harmed by school discipline policies. Last year the GAO report which was requested by now chairman, Representative Bobby Scott and I believe chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chairman Nadler, GAO releases alarming report about the widespread bias in school discipline. Black students, boys and students with disabilities are disciplined at disproportionately higher rates. Black students are subject to harsher discipline than their white counterparts. 15.5% of all public school students are black but 39% of students who are suspended from school are black. This is a disproportionate and it is unacceptable and it's unjust. And the Obama administration began to take steps to enforce the civil rights protections for public school students with the guidance issued in 2014 to assist schools with administering school discipline without discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin. So progress was being made but unfortunately as with many things the Trump administration has repeatedly rolled back the critical guidance that was providing schools with guidance to protect students civil rights including that guidance on school discipline. So Senator Murphy and I and several colleagues in the House and Senate led a letter to then acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker. I could go on about that but that's another topic. Now there's a new attorney and Secretary DeVos I could go on about that too but regarding this rescission so we were demanding to know what steps they're taking to fully enforce civil rights laws and inform schools about their obligations under federal civil rights laws with regard to school discipline. So waiting for a satisfactory response because we all know with what we all know about bias in school discipline we cannot give less guidance to schools and school districts or less clarity on how to protect civil rights. They need that guidance. We should be telling them reminding them of their responsibility and when I'm back home in Oregon I have 25 school districts in the congressional district. I'm honored to represent. They appreciate the guidance so that they know how to fulfill their responsibilities so the rescission of that guidance was very problematic. So we know we have more to do to address civil rights in our country but particularly in our schools and I do want to mention too as we have these conversations we have to look at sort of the underlying issues of poverty of hunger of homelessness of trauma mental health needs and health needs that our students are experiencing. There are intense unmet needs in so many of our schools with so many of our students and that has to be part of the the solution to as we address not only the problem of discrimination in school discipline but the public education system that every student in this country deserves. So thank you to the panelists. I'm sorry I'm not able to to stay to listen to more of the discussion but thank you to the panelists and everyone here for helping to shine a light on this issue and for sharing your expertise on ways to create safe and inclusive learning environments for all students. I know there's a brighter future ahead if we work together. So thank you again everyone really appreciate the opportunity to spend a few minutes with you. Thank you. So we are going to move into our moderated panels. I'd like to invite them up. We are honored to have Ashley Harrington with UNCF which represents private HBCUs and is the largest provider of scholarships for students of color in the nation. She is their director of national social justice programs and she will be moderating our panel as a member of the public policy and government affairs team. Ashley leads new policy and programmatic efforts to address the systemic issues that have perpetuated racial and economic inequality. So I'd like to invite Ashley up as well as our panelists. Good afternoon. Sorry about that. Thank you Jessica for an LPI for having us today and for setting this up. UNCF is particularly interested in this work and excited to be here because we know what policies like this mean for the lies and trajectories of the students and communities we serve and the ones we want to serve. And I think you've heard a lot about how many of these school districts where we've seen the worst problems are located in the south which is also where most HBCUs are located and the students we serve are located. And so we're particularly concerned about how we discipline and what that looks like. I'm also excited to be a part of this panel of amazing women of color who can really talk about this issue from all the vantage points. We have a student, we have a student, we have an educator, we have policy folks, we have a parent. So we really want to dive into this issue. So I'll go ahead and introduce them. Zekia Sankara-Jabbar is the co-founder of Racial Justice Now and national field organizer at Dignity and Schools Campaign. She is a leading expert in parent organizing and advocacy. Zekia came to organizing advocacy and policy work as a parent pushing back on harmful school discipline policies that disproportionately impact black students and their families. Her organizing and advocacy has led to significant policy changes at the local and state level in the state of Ohio. Welcome. Lynn Jennings is the senior director of national and state partnerships with the Education Trust where she leads the organization's initiatives to engage and mobilize a diverse group of advocates at the national, state and local levels who are working to forever close gaps in opportunity and achievement. Lynn previously served as a senior legislative affairs associate where she worked with federal and state decision makers to inform and further policies that will increase the academic performance of low income students and students of color. Carolyn Kitana is the principal of Bronxdale High School in New York City. Carolyn began her career in education in 2003 in a Bronx ninth grade English classroom. She then served as a literacy coordinator before becoming principal in 2012. She has worked to end exclusionary discipline policies by shaping school practices focused on meaningful learning which have led to improved motivation, student experiences and outcomes and created a great sense of belonging for staff and students. And finally, Johanna Molina is a senior at Bronxdale High School where she is president of the Peer Mediation Club. Johanna is a part of the National Honor Society and is in the top three of her class. Johanna will be attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice and will be studying to become a New York City police officer. One of her other's goals is to own a construction company and to employ people from different cultures. Welcome everyone. So I have a few questions for each of our panelists and then at the end there will be space for time for the audience to ask questions. But if you do have a burning question before we get to the audience question, please feel free to raise your hand and we'll try to include that. I'm going to ask questions specifically to a couple of panelists but all panelists should feel free to weigh in if there's something they want to add. So Zakiya, we'll start with you. Can you talk to us a little bit more about specific discipline policies that you have seen on the ground that make schools less safe and the consequences that you've seen particularly for students of color? Sure. Can everybody hear me? All right, cool. Thank you Learning Policy Institute for this opportunity to share about the work that I've been doing both at the local level as a co-founder of my own organization but also nationally with the National Dignity and Schools Campaign. I appreciate it having an opportunity to be an external reviewer on this report. Well done. To your question, I mean school discipline policies have been very detrimental since the early 90s as we've heard from the report with the advent of zero tolerance. For me personally what that looked like and also for the parents that I organized, zero tolerance actually starts in preschool if folks can believe that or not. There is a preschool to prison pipeline is actually how I got into this work. When my three-year-old son was being identified already as a problem, there's a pathologization of black children and families for normal sort of childhood behavior. We know that there's over-identification sometimes of young people being referred to disability services for things like emotional disturbance and all these oppositional defines all these different things. So it shows up that way. It also shows up in just overall school culture and climate. And what I mean by that is school districts or even local schools themselves creating discriminatory policies against students but also against parents where you're not even welcoming parents you're creating policies to exclude parents based on a parent. I think we saw that recently in Houston. And so those are things that are endemic. It happens all the time. When you think about walking into a school and there's a metal detector it's not an airport it's supposed to be a school that should be welcoming. So those are a number of things that I have seen locally on the ground that our members deal with across the country DSC has 115 members in over 26 states including the District of Columbia. So one of our members here from Gwinnett Stop Marlene Tillman who was also a parent led organization doing the work in Gwinnett County Georgia. So we see these things literally all over the country. It's not just one thing that's happening in DC but it's literally everywhere. Some of the things that we have worked to have positive school discipline relationships are around restorative justice. Dignity Schools has a specific campaign to remove the regular presence of law enforcement from schools. So our counselors not cops campaign. And then we also have solutions not suspensions where it's all encompassing with overall improving school climate and culture in the schools. Thank you so much. And I think Miss Eiffel got to that when she said how do we let black and brown children be children and actually get to experience childhood. Carolyn you're kind of at the other end of the spectrum. You really work to create an inclusive learning environment at your school. Can you tell us a little bit about what Bronxdale was like when you first got there. What you have changed and the results that you have been seeing. Sure. Thank you. Can you hear me. Wonderful. Good afternoon. So actually much of what Zakiha just mentioned doesn't sit well with me obviously for practical purposes. But also as a human being when we have punitive responses to harm or punitive responses to behavior. We're teaching kids or we're labeling students. We're teaching them that they don't have value. We're teaching them that they are their action. Instead of holding them responsible or teaching them instead behaviors that we want to see instead of helping them to see the impact of their actions. And so when I came in I took over the school at the end of its first year. The principal had been removed. The school was a little bit in shambles. And much of that was because of actions of adults but in particular actions of adults towards students. So when I took over the school about 30 percent of the kids were on track for graduation. The students who were being hand-picked to take the regents exam the first exam for required for graduation in New York were not students of color. Not surprisingly they had been hand selected to take the exam and they were the only ones who were going to be prepared to take that exam. Our dean at the time whose husband was a police officer very much ran our school that way too. And so there was a tone at that school. I had to hold adult mediations often. And so I spent that first spring just watching and listening quite a bit to figure things out and to decide what needed to change. And what needed to change was the way that we believed about students. What we believed that they were capable of doing. How we believed that they learned best. And it's something that I say often that it's about how students learn best of a teacher in the audience who's nodding her head yes because I say that often. And so when I took over I shifted things that weren't just bringing in restorative practices. It had to be instructional as well so I brought an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning because it allows engagement at multiple levels either because it's something that you're interested in doing or because it allows kids who have different abilities to engage in the work at different places. And so we shifted the way that we approached instruction. I brought in teams and my school had not had that before. I really believe in voice and collaboration and so bringing in teams was an absolute necessity. It also meant that I wasn't making all the decisions and I was modeling that so that teachers could then do that with students. And that's the kind of classroom that I want to see a classroom where kids really are at the helm. Where kids are having conversations and so that also meant teaching folks how to speak to one another. So we practiced and we got training on things like collaborative problem solving to bring in common language across the school or circles so that we could learn a protocol that works for our school not for all schools but a protocol that allows us to have equity and voice and a really structured way of having conversations and ensuring that people are heard. But we also did things like we had fun. We made sure that we brought in things that were exciting and fun for kids and adults. Adults win the lip-sync battle every year. That's important. I mentioned yesterday at another conference we eat together, we play together and that's really necessary in terms of building a caring community because if we're going to have restorative practices in place we say this all the time. What are you restoring if there's not already a caring community there? Circles became a big part of everything that we did. They're at the hub of our advisory, they are how we meet with parents, they're how we interview, they're how we meet as a staff. They're absolutely necessary for us because if we make them come and practice at Bronxdale, if they're part of everything that we do then when we're using them to address harm the protocol isn't new. We can really just focus on listening to people and people can be comfortable in a setting or in a protocol that really allows for them to have someone who's there to advocate for them that allows them to have voice and to be seen. Our school is one of five schools on a campus and we have 13 school safety agents and they're all on my floor. Not by choice but I happen to be on the first floor and so with that in mind when I was on the fourth floor when we were a smaller school I asked them to just not be there. When we moved down to the first floor and that's where they're located what we built a partnership. I fed them, we included them in our PDs, our professional development. I also took them with us to visit other schools to see restorative practices. We included them in our circles and so at the very least if they were going to be on our floor they were going to understand that we did things a little differently and they and they did and so they became friends of the school as opposed to really policing our school which was very important for us if they're going to be there we needed them. There are still some folks with their issues who don't know how to interrelate with kids and we're working on that but at the very least as a whole we were able to shift some of that. I think the biggest piece though was and in New York I have the luxury of I get to somewhat decide my budget and so that means that I make big decisions about personnel and resources. I may not be able to purchase certain items because I've decided that it's very important to have at the time so this year a little bit harder because we have a freeze but two social workers, two school counselors, a restorative coach and a restorative dean because all of those folks were necessary in order to be able to support our students. All of our teachers became advisors and we took years developing our advisory program and developing our teachers as advisors with the support of coaches and we still have coaches I'm seven years in and we still have coaches for everything from our restorative practices to our instructional practices so that everyone in the school feels supported. If the staff feels supported they do the same with our students. I just want to piggyback on that quickly before I turn to you on this. So your approach is that inclusive and effective approaches can be taught to teachers and leaders right and there's programs at the federal level through the Every Student Succeeds Act, through the HEA which is currently up for reauthorization that provide funding for programs like these that do allow you to provide that type of instruction to your leaders and teachers. Yes so there we've so yes there is funding available and finding that funding is a bit of a challenge I never say no when it's offered to me so a grant is offered and I say yes and we've been able to take advantage of of those opportunities to for example CPS collaborative problem solving was paid for through grant funding and it's an incredibly important part of the language that we used to help develop some of the practices we have in our school. There are opportunities for teachers and something to consider too is not just the teachers at my own school but really thinking about how do we branch out and provide opportunities for other folks to learn even before they go into working in schools and and some of that comes from so it's a tough question right because to not script what a school does to not say that they necessarily have to be trained on this protocol or this particular strategy but to be able to say if they're well informed enough so if we expose them to trainings on implicit bias and racial equity in schools which is something that we've been doing as well if we expose them to a variety of different restorative practices because there are lots of different strategies that you can use if we expose them to the why of it all right if if colleges get a little bit better and leadership programs get a little bit better at reminding folks about child development then then we have an understanding of the why behind it all and then schools can choose what it is that they want to focus on or what works best for the community in front of them so that they can be responsive to the students and the staff in front of them and the parents actually I'm really glad that you brought that up parents are a really big part of that understanding our parents and how they're coming in but also training them with the language the strategies and those resources and so taking advantage of some of that funding the catches that sometimes that funding isn't there long enough and so what do you do when that happens how do you prepare yourself to continue to support your staff and and offer that kind of training when that funding is no longer there working it's gonna jump in a little bit here just because now that you brought in a little bit of what the federal government can do in role and part of my job on the panel was talk about the role of the federal government but I think we've heard a lot about that but being in DC for over 10 years and working on federal policy etc I mean this balance between the not scripting the schools and what they need to do and not handcuffing them but at the same time setting up the context so they can do the right thing and giving them resources that they needed funding but also sharing practices etc I think is really important and something that we have to keep in mind I mean that's that's comes back over and over again a while we was so concerned when the the guidance around discipline was rescinded right that that wasn't just supposed to be wagging your finger at somebody about racial discrimination but if there's any chance that you may be doing something like this not even intentionally these are some things you can look at to address it to make sure that you're treating your students well and setting up the environment that they need and not denying them learning opportunities etc but I do want to make sure that as we're hearing a lot of the good work that's happening in schools and that principals and doing leaders are doing teachers are doing restorative justice practices etc that we do not let the federal government off the hook that they are with a federal government has a job has a role to protect the rights of students and to make sure that racial discrimination and other discrimination is not happening in our public schools so I mean I had I got into this conversation with my colleague over here in the cab of that she's more my research team and she's often talking about all the great work that's happening and then I feel like I'm negative Nellie's you have to come in and say I know a great work is really happening but we don't have it happening in enough places and so we need to make sure that we have in some way the government the federal government monitoring looking and making sure that students are protected so I just want to really put that plug in we cannot we cannot let this federal government we cannot let this department event off the hook can you hear me now yeah just really quickly to follow up on that I think that's an excellent point definitely not letting the federal government off the hook but so much of education is local so not letting our state government our local LEAs off the hook either and to that point I think that it's extremely important because like you said not enough is happening everywhere like we are still I think child trends just released their report yesterday and black students are still you know getting disproportionately suspended even though overall suspensions have gone down racial disparity still there and as a parent of two black children that's very concerning for me but one of the things that I think that is extremely important that I think all of us should keep on our minds is that we really need to support the people who are directly impacted in their communities that means supporting young people and parents led organizing and advocacy groups in their local communities to push for these kind of changes that we need and I say that through experience the one of the slide right before this moderated discussion highlighted the bill House Bill 318 that was passed recently in Ohio that was out of the work of parents poor in working class black parents from Dayton Ohio you know creating a work is saying hey you know this is what's happening to our kids not only that this is what's happening to us the base of our parents there were parents that were actually losing their jobs because their young children were being suspended and expelled repeatedly and so that creates especially for parents who are already economically disenfranchised you know that creates an issue where you're losing your job if you're working on a service industry profession and you have no union protection so there's a lot of intersections here for parents and young people and I think that is really critical that we support and resource ordinary people to push back at the local and state level thank you guys ladies John I just want to talk to you as a student at Bronxdale you also have a leadership role in the peer mediation club what does this club do and how has it made Bronxdale a safer school and how can schools in general make students feel safer and protected good afternoon so like she said earlier I am the president of the peer mediation club and the actual club what they do is like they recruit students so I was the first group that was chosen to become peer mediators and the actual club what they do is we train the students so that when mediation has to get done they're professional about it they're skilled about it their opinions are not involved because our job is to be neutral and help our friends out help our classmates out with their issues because sometimes they need to talk their issues out and if that resource is not there then they'll become in a fight so the whole peer mediation like does is helps the students and helps the Bronx don't know that there's a resource there that they could use that they have a problem and they need to talk it out because a lot of schools don't have that that's the reason why there's a lot of fights going on because they don't have so much safe to talk about it if it's not just physical and they end up getting this really bad fight and then they're going to spend it after that what was the other question how has it made you feel how has it made it safer and are there other things you think schools can do to make students feel safer and more protected my opinion I believe it has made everyone generally Bronx so safer because when I started like because I was I was one of the some students that was first chosen so I didn't have that resource and I know there was a couple arguments that I got on and I feel like if I had that resource myself I would have not gotten to that argument so now that we are seeing that mediation's getting done and since I became a mediator I have done about 15 mediations were students and I feel like majority of those mediations never ended up a fight they ended up fixing their problems and maybe not become friends but at least cool with each other because we do share buildings together we do share classes together we share friends together so it has helped a lot of students not have a fight and as how it also has helped a lot of students know that there is something there and that now they do request for mediation when they're having a problem because they don't want to fight that's not they're not for that they just want to fix their issues because everyone has different opinions and everyone agrees with each other and how schools and there's different things I feel like for school to become safe one is having like while we're here a restorative justice program we need that because we come from homes with troubles we come from a community that may not be the best one and we always need someone to talk to and if we have that in school then that's going to help us be better in school emotionally, socially and academically because if we're not emotionally fine then we're not going to work hard in school we're not going to give the best of us in school and I feel like yes having police officers in the school do help but sometimes schools are I'm sometimes sometimes students are afraid of the police officers because of what they see on tv because mostly color students they feel like I can't speak to them because they're going to arrest me are they going to I'll handcuff them they're going to reach me because I'm color still sorry I'm color student and I also feel like mostly like Bronxdale the teachers and the staff and they all make sure they all have a type of connection with students like Ms. Contana said like Bronxdale makes it seem that sorry Bronxdale wants the students and the staff have a connection at least every single student in Bronxdale has at least one staff that they trust and that's good because if they have an issue they want to talk about emotionally things they have someone to talk to not like other schools where students don't have no one to talk to and they end up going crazy because they don't have someone to talk to and at home that's worse because the problem is from home or the problem is because from the community they come from so if the school makes it comfortable for them to have someone like there then they'll feel better also advisories like Ms. Contana said advisory is one of the like our home rooms is like there are parents throughout the whole day so when like something happens so the advisories are the first one that get cold and having advisories having circles and advisories helps us feel like a family not only school makes us feel like feel like a family because we sit down we check up on each other we make sure that everyone is okay and if we're having a bad day there are other resources like social workers, counselors that are there to talk to the student to make sure that whatever they're going through can get fixed because if the problem it gets worse then the students may drop out and that's worse because we want students to become professionals to be the next generation to succeed in life and they don't have resources and where are they going to go thank you so I think we have a few minutes for a couple of audience questions do we have any please raise your hand okay Lynn do you want to take that or anybody else we're actually now I think it's part of a broader agenda to roll back civil rights protections in general I mean we're seeing it over and over again from education the housing etc so we know that this the guidance was rescinded under the guise of doing things around school safety and gun violence I mean it makes no sense at all so I it looked mostly like an excuse to do something that was part of the agenda in the first place which was to get rid of the guidance I will add also that I think that we can't discount the law enforcement lobby and the increase in law enforcement in our in our schools and the type of contracts that they're getting from local education agencies and even state education agencies the other piece is that some districts are also arming teachers so I think that you know when you think about arms sales when you think about law enforcement then you know those are the kind of those are some of the people who will benefit any other questions hi I have a question for principal Quintana so it's you started implementing the changes about seven years ago when you took over becoming principal and you're in a shared space a co-located space has your policy changes affected the other schools in your building that's a good question not initially so initially we were they called us the hippie-dippy school but over time yes and then and it's been difficult and part of that was because there are incidents that take place across schools including the other schools in our processes sharing what we do and then exposing them to trainings so whenever we had trainings available just inviting them whenever we and that's you know part of that is if they don't have funding allocated to a particular resource they're not going to do it if I had it and I invited them then they would do it and so it it was in my best interest to do that not everyone in the building believes in the type of relationship building or community building that I do not everyone in the building believes in restorative practices I've had folks bring down the New York Post to show me that I'm wrong but that's okay you know I think that sometimes when you can't impact people's beliefs you can show them the impact of their actions instead and when we show them the changes in data and we show them the changes in our tone and we teach them how to do it then perhaps they'll be on board and maybe I'll have an impact on their beliefs later on so in that way I also have the benefit of the first floor the whole floor and so I can create my own space the downside to that is that kids don't cut to go upstairs they cut down but we know them because we feed them which is another big thing that we do and so we're able to shift student behavior as well any last question okay we have time anyone thank you so since the guidelines have been rescinded right it doesn't necessarily prevent schools that have been using these best practices and that implement those guidelines to continue to use those best practices so how can organizations like Unidos U.S. that actually have relationships with schools help ensure that those continue to be utilized I can just offer up the dignity in schools campaign did release policy brief called the law still the law in response to that and I would invite you just to go on our website at dignityinschools.org it's a nice tool that you can use to continue to work with school districts and I think anytime something like this happens at the federal level where guidance or something like that is rescinded but it's not doesn't have the force of law right just reminding institutions and organizations that they do they can still do it like they just need that reminder that they won't be violating anything and that this is this is still good guidance that this is still good best practice and that there are other best practices they can look to and there's nothing stopping them from doing that and if it's for organizations that are first institutions schools who maybe have not signed on yet sometimes just exposing them not just to the research but maybe to a visit or to see something in action so that they see the impact of that work on graduation rates on pedagogy on tone in a school if they can see the impact of it then there's a reason to engage in that work I was going to say I know at trust I mean that's one of the things we're trying to do through our network of advocates we have roughly about 15 16 states or so I might go up to 20 but where we just as much as we hear we go through a newsletter trying to get the word out of what's happening having convening so people can meet and learn from each other webinars we've decided we're going to try to figure out how we can do more like virtual conferences and meetings and things like that so because I do think a lot of it is just trying to get the word out and certain things that I think we sometimes take for granted that someone may know they don't know and so as soon as we you know I meet Zakiya I start talking to Zakiya next thing I know folks in Ohio are telling me things are happening in Ohio and we start spreading the word and I think we're going to have to be probably a little bit more intentional about it at this point but it is happening and I think we just have to amplify it even more well I want to thank everyone I want to thank this wonderful panel I think most of us most of them will be available afterwards if people have questions but I'm going to turn it back over to Jessica great thank you Ashley thank you everyone thank you thank you so finally it is my honor to introduce Judith Brown-Diannis executive director of the advancement project to provide our closing remarks Judith has an extensive background on civil rights litigation advocacy in the areas of voting education housing and employment and as a pioneer in the movement to dismantle the school to prison pipeline in school districts Judith has offered groundbreaking reports on the issue including opportunities suspended and derailed the schoolhouse to jailhouse track detailing the unnecessary criminalization of students by their schools working very closely with grassroots organizations the advancement project's work has significantly decreased student suspensions and arrests in Denver, Baltimore and Florida additionally advancement project has worked to build and support a growing national movement on this issue please join me in welcoming Judith thank you good afternoon everyone it is really good to be here I was sitting thinking about the fact that I've been doing work around school discipline and the school to prison pipeline for the past 20 years and because I've been doing it for that long I'm like the elder in your family who is 90 years old and gets to say whatever they want to say because they've been doing life for so long and so for me when I think about this issue it's like we're having I've been having the same conversation for a long time and that is not to say that in those 20 years I haven't seen substantial progress 20 years ago I wouldn't have seen this many faces in a meeting about school discipline 20 years ago I wouldn't have seen a guidance to be rescinded 20 years ago I wouldn't have seen as many activists doing this work 20 years ago I wouldn't have seen a conversation about whether or not we should have police in schools at all 20 years ago I wouldn't have seen actually the videos of young people getting beat up by the cops in schools because young people are now aware of this thing called the school to prison pipeline so a lot has changed and at the same time I feel like I'm still having the same conversation and some ways I'm stuck on stupid but it's not that I'm stuck on stupid it's that our society is stuck our society continues to believe that young black and brown children are disposable we still believe that they should be dehumanized we still believe that they should be criminalized we still believe that they should be under educated and miseducated we still believe that they are super predators and that is part of our problem when I think about the issues it's around suspensions yes over suspending students and thinking that that's going to help us in a school setting when actually what we know is that it drives down educational outcomes that it puts those young people on the streets and puts them in a precarious and more dangerous situations because now they're on the streets I think of a young man who was killed because he was actually sent out of a classroom in upstate New York and was suspended told to go home and was killed in a drive by waiting for a bus to go home because the school told him he was suspended I bring into this work and everybody on my staff knows I always talk about a five-year-old girl named Jaisha Scott in Florida who was arrested for throwing a temper tantrum during a jellybean counting game and that little baby was pushed down on a table she was sitting in a chair by the time the cop sent her to the room but they picked her up out of that chair pushed her down on the table pulled her little arms behind her back and handcuffed her took her out to a car put her in the back seat of that car and put shackles around her ankles and left her there crying for her mommy I bring Jaisha with me everywhere I can still hear the screams from that video so we talk about expulsions and the young people who are being expelled from schools for really simple stupid things being teenagers we haven't talked about young people with special needs children and the rate at which children who have IDEA plans are suspended because the schools aren't ready to deal with the special needs that they have and that we're cutting those programs and we have charter schools that we're expanding not just on the republican watch that's a bipartisan effort where Dems think this is the way to get education reform but young people are being put out of those schools because you might be able to get in but it's easy as hell to get kicked out and they get to pick the kids that they want and get rid of the kids that they don't want and there's no accountability doesn't matter how many parents organize and scream they don't have to care because they're not accountable to anyone but the dollar we haven't talked about young people LGBTQ young people who find themselves in schools that don't understand them and don't welcome them and don't make safe spaces for them my daughter was telling me about a young trans person who just transferred into her high school here in Maryland and how young people were bullying her every day and how the school did nothing about it but she and some other students started telling people stop it she's a student just like us please stop but there are schools who are actually the ones who are excluding LGBTQ youth we haven't talked about police in schools now some of you may call them school resource officers but they are nothing but cops and for those of us who live in communities where we can't trust the cops on the streets and in our neighborhoods we sure as heck shouldn't be thinking we should trust them around our children now I want you to know that we may not be paying attention to this issue very much because we think of Columbine and Parkland and we think about the kinds of safety we want for our children but I want you to just google some of this stuff that's happened this year we've had at least 13 police assaults that were videotaped that doesn't talk about the ones that a student didn't capture on video and wasn't reported but 13 that were on camera by young people kids getting beat up by cops in schools that is not what safety looks like for children of color there's an incident in Texas where students protested because of excessive use of force by a cop and this is a police officer who left the sheriff's office and took an SRO job in lieu of termination from his job in the sheriff's office because he was charged with excessive use of force you may have seen a video of a young girl that just came out in litigation in Chicago who was dragged down the stairs by cops in school this is part of the discipline apparatus I'm not just talking about it because I want to talk about cops it's part of the system of discipline that we have created in our schools you may have seen a video of a young man just two weeks ago in Florida walking away from a cop and the cop goes after the young man right outside school picks him up and throws him down to the ground 11-year-old boy so when we talk about discipline let's not just talk about what the teachers are doing let's talk about all the adults because part of our problem is the culture of schools but also the level of racism and anti-black blackness that we carry into the school building with us you can't shed it when you get when you get into the school building that's not what happens and so if we are thinking about the schools we want to build and the culture we want to have and we think about the year 2045 which is at least by then we will be a majority people of color in this country we've got to think differently about how we're delivering education to our young people our young people of color especially black and brown children because we have to think about whether or not we do want them to be undereducated under resourced whether or not we want to criminalize them and dehumanize them or are we creating something different and what's interesting is if you listen to the sisters on the panel today there were some common things that came out relationships in the school building are important trust is important and again I'm going to tell you that a lot of young people who are fighting cops in schools and fighting we just we're helping a group in Philadelphia fighting to end the expansion of metal detectors in their schools because they understand that's not a nurturing environment I walk into a building and there's a cop who's monitoring me and then there's surveillance everywhere because they it's not for many people it's not because of the intruder for most black and brown children it's because they're the ones who are the alleged threat and so how can I learn in an environment that doesn't trust and love me because a lot of young people come to school to be loved a lot of young people come to a school to think that the adults in the building care about me my mom, my dad, my abuela they have turned me over to a school that's going to love me up but that's not what they're experiencing and so relationships come over task as we say in the organizational world but it should happen in schools the other kinds of solutions as we talk about safety we talk about the intruder we still haven't talked about gun control they get us off our game every time every school shooting what happens in black and brown schools is we get more militarization and more security meanwhile the schools that had the mass shooting don't get more of that and we still don't have gun control because we've been duped into thinking this gets to the question about the guidance and why we rescinded it was because the turn back of civil rights but also the idea that it's black and brown children who are getting these civil rights protections who are the threats to our safety and so Secretary DeVos could say easily this is going to make us safer if we get rid of civil rights protections so we are faced with this what are the changes we need to make relationships restorative justice I want you to go to rjpartnership.org and see the good work that's being done in Denver we're in partnership with the NEA and with our long-term partner Padres and Jovenel Sunidos in building out a restorative justice program there where teachers can come any NEA member can sign up to actually go see restorative justice in action in a school implicit bias we're working with Broward County on implicit bias and I have to say after Parkland that work kind of stopped in its tracks because again people started thinking about who are the threatening people and they wanted to get rid of our beloved superintendent in Broward but the other solutions I want to put forward for those especially who work on the Hill one is we need a fix to a Supreme Court decision down from 2001 called Alexander v Sandoval that is a case that took away the private right of action of people who wanted to go in and challenge the use of federal funds saying that it was discriminatory and now we can't go to court so instead we gotta turn over to Secretary Betsy DeVos who got rid of the guidance but she's the only one who can help us on civil rights issues in school so we need a federal fix a congressional fix for the Sandoval case we also need to increase federal funding and I just want to say that also what I'm getting ready to say to you is not necessarily endorsed by all the people who co-sponsored this so because we tend to be more radical advancement project but stick with me increase federal funding for alternatives to exclusionary discipline and criminalization that improves school climate such as restorative justice programs training for teachers and school staff because I wanted to say this we keep talking about how the kids need counselors and we need all this the adults need some help too they might need counselors they might need help on training on classroom management they might need some anti-racism training let's stop blaming young people they come to us and adults mess them up and so we have to be thinking about what supports the adults need to do the right things and hiring professionals that are trained to support students social and emotional needs such as social workers mental health professionals the community schools model where everything's in the building that everybody needs so you can access that and then I'm going to tell you one last thing for us at advancement project we want to see a moratorium on funding for anything having to do with cops in schools we have to think of the world that we want and the world that we want does not include cops in our schools because it leads to increase surveillance and criminalization of young people if a cop is in a school a cop is there to enforce the criminal code and that's not the criminal code for the intruder it becomes the criminal code for young people so I challenge us to just think about the world that we want to create for our young people and think about this isn't that difficult if we actually had the will to see young black and brown children as beautiful valuable people in our society we'd be able to do it but it's getting to that will is where we need to spend our time and effort thank you I'm not going to add anything to that thank you very much to all of our congressional co-hosts to our co-sponsoring organizations to our wonderful speakers and panelists and thank you all for taking so much time out of your day to join us thank you