Join an Honest Conversation About Race in Schools and Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Posted Mar. 16, 2020 in Better Conversation

Miriam A. Rollin, J.D. directs the national Education Civil Rights Alliance and serves as an attorney for the National Center for Youth Law. Full profile →

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“Structural racism in school systems. Implicit bias among school professionals. White privilege (and, when confronted, White fragility) among school staff. Curriculum and materials devoid of the complete history and true stories of many, many heroes of color. Black children seen as ‘dangerous’ and suspended—and, too often, arrested—for the same behaviors that White children get just a call home to the parents.”

If you’re an educator, and you read that and think “That’s all a bunch of nonsense, I’ll stay away,” then please do so.

If you’re an educator, and you read that and think “Ok, but what can I, as a teacher, DO about it?,” then please join us for a Facebook Live session, jointly sponsored by the Education Civil Rights Alliance (ECRA) and the National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY): it’s called “Support Your Students of Color and Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” it’s on March 17, 2020, at 8pm Eastern, and you can access the event on the NNSTOY Facebook page. 

The presenters joining me are two amazing educator/leaders: 

• Kelisa Wing, 2017 DoDEA Teacher of the Year, acclaimed public speaker and educator trainer, who literally wrote the book on dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline; and
• Kareem Neal, 2019 Arizona Teacher of the Year, long-time special educator, and district restorative justice expert, leader and trainer.

They’re both extremely knowledgeable and passionate about disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline in our schools today. They’re also both part of the ECRA’s Leading Educator Ambassadors for Equity—and elite group of educators, working with the litigators, policy advocates and researchers in the ECRA to make education equity change in schools more thorough and more lasting.

In this “no holds barred” conversation, we’ll be: describing the school-to-prison pipeline that impacts students of color—especially students with disabilities; taking on the racism in schools that undergirds the pipeline; warning about the latest flow into the pipeline resulting from “threat assessments;” and sharing numerous approaches and resources to help transform schools to embody justice and caring toward students of color and all students.