Stopping the School-to-Prison Pipeline in NYC
New York City public schools have 5,246 police officers and agents and only 3,152 guidance counselors. If you don't see something wrong with that picture, it's quite possible that you're one of those 5,246 cops.
As "tough-on-crime" policies swept across America over the last few decades, it didn't stop at the schoolhouse door. The criminalization of discipline in American schools left a metal detector at the door and a full-time officer patrolling the hallways, taking disciplinary duties from the hands of the experts -- teachers and school administrators. It's time to turn this wave around, and a growing movement is aiming to do just that in New Yiork City.
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn held a press conference last Thursday flanked by student activists to support a bill before the council that would require expanded reporting of police activity in the city's public schools and streamline the process for students, parents and teachers to report abuse by NYPD officers.
The measure is backed by the Student Safety Coalition, an organization of 19 advocacy groups seeking social justice in the city. The NYCLU, a central member of the coalition, has worked for years to divert New York's