Symposium: Challenging the School-to-Prison Pipeline

A Justice Action Center Symposium
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
New York Law School

The American Civil Liberties Union's Racial Justice Program, New York Law School Justice Action Center's Racial Justice Project, and the New York Law School Law Review co-sponsored a national conference on Challenging the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

The School-to-Prison Pipeline refers to systemic policies and practices that push our nation's schoolchildren, especially at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. It reflects a prioritization of incarceration over education, particularly for children of color.

This one-day conference brought together attorneys, researchers, students, and other advocates from across the nation and from the diverse fields of education law, racial justice, civil rights, juvenile justice, and disabilities law, among others. A large portion of the conference was devoted to breakout sessions, permitting participants to gather in small groups to brainstorm and develop promising new strategies for this work. Click here to view the official flyer for this event.  

  
CONFERENCE VIDEO

Streaming video from the conference can be viewed by clicking on the images below.

Welcome, Keynote Address, and Plenary Panel I: Harms

Plenary Panel II: Remedies


CONFERENCE MATERIALS

Conference materials can be viewed and download by clicking on the links below.

Conference Schedule, About the Sponsors, Participant Profiles, and Plenary Panel materials
Keynote materials
Break-out session materials:
    Community Responses to the Pipeline
    Court-Involved Youth
    Disciplinary Alternative Schools
    Impact Litigation
    Legislative Lobbying and Policy Reform
    Policing in Schools
    Special Education


CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Welcome
Richard A. Matasar, Dean and President, New York Law School
Dennis Parker, Director, ACLU Racial Justice Program
Deborah Archer, Professor of Law, New York Law School; Director, Racial Justice Project

8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Keynote Address
Charles J. Ogletree, Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Executive Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice

9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Plenary Panel I: Harms
Panelists discussed the harm to children at different “stops” in the school-to-prison pipeline, including under-resourced public schools, disciplinary alternative schools, and the juvenile justice system.

• Moderated by: Nadine Strossen, Professor of Law, New York Law School; Former President, American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008)
• Cathy Albisa, Executive Director, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
• Courtney Bowie, Attorney at Law, Law Office of Courtney Bowie
• Marsha Levick, Deputy Director and Chief Counsel, Juvenile Law Center 

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Break-Out Session I: Harms
Each session was led by a group of facilitators who discussed efforts to challenge the school-to-prison pipeline by issue area.
Conference participants chose from the following sessions:

• I-A. Educational Adequacy
         Session Leaders: Anurima Bhargava, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Art Eisenberg, NYCLU; and Catherine
         Lhamon, ACLU of Southern California
• I-B. Policing in Schools
         Session Leaders: Catherine Y. Kim, ACLU Racial Justice Program; Udi Ofer, NYCLU; and Lisa H. Thurau, Strategies for Youth
• I-C. Special Education
         Session Leaders: Ira Burnim, Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law; Daniel J. Losen, Civil Rights Project at UCLA; 
         and Dean Rivkin, University of Tennessee College of Law
• I-D. Disciplinary Alternative Schools
         Session Leaders: Chara Fisher Jackson, ACLU of Georgia; and Reginald Shuford, ACLU Racial Justice Program
• I-E. Court-Involved Youth
         Session Leaders: Marsha Levick, Juvenile Law Center; Katayoon Majd, National Juvenile Defender Center; Nick Sheehan, Advocates
         for Children 

12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Luncheon and Informal Networking

1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Plenary Panel II: Remedies
Panelists discussed models and solutions to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, such as elimination of zero-tolerance policies, limiting the authority of school resource officers, and positive behavioral interventions and supports.

• Moderated by: Dennis Parker, Director, ACLU Racial Justice Program
• Jeffrey Sprague, Professor of Special Education and Director of the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior, University of Oregon
• Honorable Steven Teske, Judge, Clayton County Juvenile Court

3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Break-Out Session II: Remedies
Each session was led by a group of facilitators to discuss efforts to challenge the school-to-prison pipeline by advocacy strategy.
Conference participants chose from the following sessions:

• II-A. Legislative Lobbying and Policy Reform
         Session Leaders: Judith Storandt, National Disability Rights Network; and Deborah J. Vagins, ACLU Washington Legislative Office
• II-B. Community Responses to the Pipeline
         Session Leaders: Shakyra Diaz, ACLU of Ohio; Damon Hewitt, NAACP LDF; and Ellen Tuzzolo, Justice Policy Institute
• II-C. Impact Litigation
         Session Leaders: Elisa Hyman, Southern Poverty Law Center; Ron Lospennato, Southern Poverty Law Center; and Alan Schlosser,
         ACLU of Northern California
• II-D. Research and Public Education
         Session Leaders: Jim Freeman, The Advancement Project; Russ Skiba, Equity Project at Indiana University; and Johanna Wald,
         Charles Hamilton Houston Institute
• II-E. Human Rights Framework
         Session Leaders: Chandra Bhatnagar, ACLU Human Rights Program; and Liz Sullivan, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
 

4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Reception

CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION

CLE credit was available for portions of this program.

NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL LAW REVIEW

The New York Law School Law Review's symposium issue "Locating the School-to-Prison Pipeline" will collect the scholarly contributions emerging from the April 1, 2009 live event. The issue will include scholarship from current civil rights lawyers as well as education policy experts. They will address educational policies that push students out of the class and into the criminal justice system. 

If you have any questions, please email jac@nyls.edu.