Peer-Reviewed Journal

The disruption of the school-to-prison pipeline is on the horizon for a multitude of community organizations.8 However, two peer-reviewed articles, Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline/Building Abolition Futures by Erica Meiners and Organizing to End the School-to-Prison Pipeline: An Analysis of Grassroots Organizing Campaigns and Policy Solutions by Michael P. Evans and Celeste R. Didlick-Davis, highlight the importance of collective effort in the elimination of both the mass incarceration of youth and the school-to-prison pipeline. Meiners speaks to this by eloquently stating: if we are going to challenge a powerful, cohesive system then we must engage in collective, unified action.8 Ultimately, Meiner’s argument highlights the important fact that a system can be attacked by a plethora of individual organizations that serve to essentially throw rocks at its gates or a system can be attacked by a collective that pushes those gates down and elicits change. Similarly, Evans and Didlick-Davis argue for the collaboration of school leaders and community members, both as essential tools for the elimination of zero tolerance policies within schools.9The articles highlight the increased use of zero tolerance policies, surveillance cameras, armed security guards and on-site police as causal factors that have directly contributed to the longevity of the school-to-prison pipeline.8

Both authors argue that there is a current hazardous dearth of community voice in legislative and school policy reforms.9 Meiners argues that the construction of alternatives to youth incarceration and punitive practices, such as restorative justice can be dangerous if not outlined by local community members and victimized students.8 Often, alternatives are readily adopted because they are ‘alternatives’ to incarceration, imprisonment and suspension, not because their reformative framework has been thoroughly analyzed.8 Additionally, Meiners argues that powerful foundations and non-profit organizations fulfill the functions of the state by outlining therapeutic governance “that manages an outlaw’s feelings and desires;” However, the outlaw or student is still considered the delinquent in need of reformation, rather than the system. Evans and Didlick-Davis support this argument by stating that school policy reform aimed at the implementation of behavioral modification programs pathologizes minority students. Meiners states that behavioral modification practices lead to the classification of minority youth as “behaviorally disabled,” which allows for their continued segregation.8 In addition, when schools offer restorative justice practices and “these practices are tied to juvenile justice systems” the question arises if this alternative is necessarily beneficial or costly.8 Alternatives to incarceration and punishment may serve as a form of governance, in which the state has the power to govern from a distance or in the shadow of non-profit organizations. Ultimately, Meiner warns us to read the fine print, before we start advocating for alternatives that may reproduce inequalities rather than ameliorate them.

Creating reform is a multi-faceted initiative that starts at the community level, with the voices of community students, parents and educators. Through their analysis of six local grassroots organizations, Evans and Didlick-Davis found three features that differentiate beneficial community organizing from the potentially hazardous organizations outlined above: relationship building, leadership development and action. Importantly, the organizations established dignity-based school discipline policies, such as restorative justice policies that were held accountable by multiple stakeholders and community members. The six organizations in the study served important roles by engaging with and connecting local communities to schools.

Overall, transparent, accountable and authentic community organizations that advocate for local members and voice communal inequalities are key to educational reform and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. However, we must be wary, read the fine print of alternative discipline policies, and continually keep questioning the incentives of educational reform.

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“Neither the right analysis or legal reform will create communities or schools that are equal but rather movements and organizing might.”8