LEV joined the national campaign called Dignity in Schools to help align our local state work with the efforts of school districts across the nation.
We participate in monthly campaign calls to work on two major issues:
1) The development of Model School Code that highlights the human rights of students, parents and educators
2) Support of local DSC chapters who are engaged in their own struggles to end school pushout.
Many people ask what school pushout is and how it connects to the work LEV does. The answer is fairly straight forward. Washington has a growing achievement gap. Over-disciplining students of color and low-income students is linked to increased activity with law enforcement and increased drop-out rates for those students. When students are excluded from the classroom, they miss out on valuable learning time.
According to Dignity in Schools, school pushout refers to the numerous and systemic factors that prevent or discourage young people from remaining on track to complete their education, and it has severe and lasting consequences for students, parents, schools, and communities. These factors include, among others, the failure to provide essential components of a high quality education, lack of stakeholder participation in decision-making, over-reliance on zero-tolerance practices and punitive measures such as suspensions and expulsions, over-reliance on law enforcement tactics and ceding of disciplinary authority to law enforcement personnel, and a history of systemic racism and inequality. These factors have an impact on all students, but have a disproportionate impact on historically disenfranchised youth.
Want to know more about what LEV is doing regarding discipline in schools? Check out our Stop School Pushout page.