school-to-prison pipeline

  • Virginia Lawmakers Want to Dismantle Their ‘School-to-Prison Pipeline’

    One of Virginia’s newest state delegates is working on a series of bills that would disrupt the “school-to-prison pipeline” in a state that recently led the country in referring students to the legal system. The Washington Post used the example of Ryan Turk, an eighth-grader from Prince William County, to illustrate the severity of Virginia’s problems.…

  • Baltimore’s Latest Plan to Clamp Down on Crime: Tricking and Trapping Youths

    With the number of lethal and nonlethal shootings, robberies and assaults on the rise in Baltimore, police and government officials are clamoring for ways to make sense of what is happening. But even with public finger-pointing and posturing, there still isn’t a consensus about who should be blamed for the current dilemma. Some say judges…

  • Teacher Suspended After 6-Year-Old Black Boy Is Physically Assaulted at NY Charter School; Mother Searches for Answers   

    An elementary school gym teacher at Rochester Exploration Elementary Charter School for Science & Technology in upstate New York has been suspended amid allegations that he pushed a 6-year-old student so forcefully to the ground last week, one of the child’s front teeth came out and the other one had to be pulled. According to…

  • Can an All-Boys, Afrocentric Education Close the Achievement Gap?

    “I am the pink flower” is not the kind of thing a ninth-grade boy usually says with a straight face, especially not in a room filled with other teenage boys. But the young men in Schalette Gudger’s English class at Ron Brown College Preparatory High School, a new all-boys public school in Washington, D.C., were…

  • Watch: Breaking Down the School-to-Prison Pipeline

    School is back in session, and it’s time to learn about a system that funnels black and brown kids from schools into our criminal-justice system. It’s called the school-to-prison pipeline, and it’s affecting black children as early as preschool. Watch above. Tune in to The Root on Friday for a Facebook Live panel discussion on…

  • Texas Governor Signs Bill to Help Shut Off School-to-Prison Pipeline

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 674 into law on Monday, banning out-of-school suspensions for students in prekindergarten through second grade throughout the state of Texas, except in cases involving drugs, weapons or extreme violence. Authored by Rep. Eric Johnson, who represents District 100 in Dallas, the law also encourages school districts to implement…

  • Black Codes and Dress Codes: Will Black Hair Always Be Against the Rules?

    Graduation season is here—that time of year when we get to celebrate academic achievements, watch with anticipation as the graduates move on to life’s next step, and hear about all the students being banned from prom and graduation for dress code violations. As a jolting end to that list, we’re hearing more stories of students…

  • 14-Year-Old’s Tooth Knocked Out by School Officer, Attorney Says

    The attorney for a 14-year-old high school student is saying that a Churchill, Pa., police officer assigned to the school beat up the young teen, knocking out one of his front teeth during an arrest. According to the Tribune-Review, the incident occurred inside Woodland Hills High School Monday afternoon. Pittsburgh attorney Todd Hollis said that…

  • Google Just Dropped $11,000,000 to Make Sure #BlackLivesMatter

    Of course, the company didn’t phrase it that way because it would have to spend another $11 million cleaning up all the mess from the white people’s heads that exploded. But according to USA Today, Google just pledged $11.5 million in grants and funding to help organizations fight racial bias. Specifically, Google’s philanthropic division wants…

  • New Mo. Statute Ensures Children Are Fed Into School-to-Prison Pipeline

    A Missouri statute that goes into effect Jan. 1 ensures that students there will be fed directly into the school-to-prison pipeline. The new rules state that fights between students either on school buses or on school campuses will no longer be treated as a minor offense or misdemeanor. Instead, the student or students will be…