The Los Angeles Unified School District announced yesterday that it will no longer criminalize students for low-level offenses. This is all in relation to ending
zero-tolerance policies.
This means no more getting arrested for possessing alcohol or marijuana on school grounds, getting into a fight or damaging school property. Instead, you will be given mandatory counseling, go to the principal's office, have an adult try to teach you and guide you towards better decision-making, since you're still a kid. The NY Times:
A report last year by the Labor/Community Strategy Center, a civil rights group, found that students at Los Angeles schools were far more likely to receive a criminal citation than students in Chicago, Philadelphia or New York.
Several studies, including one released last year by the federal Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, have found that black and Latino students are far more likely to face harsh disciplinary procedures. A department study released this year found that black students faced more severe discipline as early as preschool: Nearly half of all preschool children suspended were African-American.
It's been covered by many and explained time and again, but this program needs to be wiped clean from every educational system in our country.
Judge Nash cited examples of students who were sent to court for using profanity while arguing with a teacher.
“What is the court going to do? The kid is going to lose a day of school, and the family is going to get a fine they aren’t going to be able to afford,” he said. “What’s the point of that?”
What is and was or would be the point, indeed.