What are the unintended consequences of bad school discipline policies? One consequence is the channeling of fairly inoffensive young people into the criminal justice system.
The Obama administration issued guidelines that recommended public school officials use law enforcement only as a last resort for disciplining students, a response to a rise in zero-tolerance policies that have disproportionately increased the number of arrests, suspensions and expulsions of minority students for even minor, nonviolent offenses.
Sponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute and the American Federation of Teachers, this conversation is designed to engender a lively and informative discussion about who zero-tolerance discipline policies in American schools have often led to the criminalization of student misbehavior and the creation of what many call the “school-to-prison pipeline.”