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MA Senate Criminal Justice Reform Bill Includes School Arrest Reforms!

Action Alert

Great news!
The Senate criminal justice reform bill that will be voted on within the next week includes key provisions we support from H.328/S.876, An Act decriminalizing non-violent and verbal student misconduct.

These important provisions eliminate the practice of arresting students for minor behavioral infractions and establish standards and accountability for police in schools. This is an issue that disproportionately affects students of color and students with disabilities, and is a crucial component of our work to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline.

Another important provision of these bills relates to data collection. Right now, the information and reporting on school arrests is scattered and incomplete. S2170 would require establishing systems for arrest data collection, reporting, and publication – similar to the reporting system for school suspensions.

I want to thank you for standing with us to push these bills to the front of the conversation! Your hard work will ensure that we keep kids in class where they belong.

But it’s not over yet!

We need you to call or email your state Senator and ask him/her to support these provisions in S2107. We’ve made it easy for you by providing a script that you can use below!

Click here to find contact information for your State Senator and then call or email them using the script below!

Script:

Hi, my name is ________ and I am calling to encourage Senator _______ to support comprehensive juvenile justice reform that prioritizes the wellbeing of students. Sections 13, 174, and 175 of Senate Bill 2170, (the omnibus criminal justice reform) support school discipline that moves away from unnecessary arrests and requires data collection and reporting of school based arrests.

These provisions would:
  1. eliminate the practice of arresting students for minor behavioral infractions;
  2. establish standards and accountability for police in schools; and
  3. require establishing systems for arrest data collection, reporting, and publication – similar to school suspensions.
These provisions are necessary because:
  • Unnecessarily arresting students ruins lives and encourages youth to drop out of school.
  • Students who drop out are more likely to go to prison, earn less income and rely more on public benefits than students who complete school.
  • Student arrests disproportionately target students of color and students with disabilities.
  • No data is currently collected or reported about school based arrests.
  • Data collection will inform us on the prevalence and reasons for arresting students.
  • Reporting school arrests would be a simple additional requirement to reporting that school districts already file with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Please support a final Criminal Justice Reform bill that includes these provisions!
Join us and call or email your State Senator today!

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Sign up for future action alerts.

Massachusetts Appleseed Joins Letter Against Charter School Dress Code

Massachusetts Appleseed joins over three dozen civil rights and education groups on letter condemning Mystic Valley Regional Charter School dress code policy

Massachusetts Appleseed joined the American Civil Liberties Union, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice and other civil rights and education groups on a letter to the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School demanding it permanently rescinded its dress code policy that bans hair extensions and hair that is more than 2 inches in height to ensure that African American students receive equal treatment. The letter also calls for the school to remove all detentions and suspensions imposed on students for violating these rules from the students records.

2018 HWM Means budget

Action Alert

Earlier this week, the House Ways & Means Committee released its 2018 state budget proposal for the fiscal year that will begin on July 1st. The House Ways & Means (HWM) budget includes recommendations for funding for programs and services provided by the state, including many that affect youth, our schools, and the courts.

Unfortunately, some of the House Ways & Means Committee’s recommendations do not provide sufficient funding for several programs that Massachusetts Appleseed supports.

Representatives are filing amendments to the budget this week seeking increased funding for these and other programs. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE by contacting your state representative and asking them to co-sponsor the budget amendments listed below:

  • Homeless Youth
    The HWM budget proposes eliminating line item 4000-0007, which currently provides $2 million for housing and services for unaccompanied youth and young adults. As a member of the Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Commission, Massachusetts Appleseed is supporting a budget amendment that would provide $4 million in funding for this line item in the fiscal year 2018 budget, as well as explicit language and funding in line item 4000-0003 for the work of the Commission on Unaccompanied Homeless Youth and the annual Massachusetts Youth Count. Representative Jim O’Day of West Boylston plans to file two youth homelessness amendments. You can find out more about funding for unaccompanied homeless youth here.
  • Safe and Supportive Schools
    With a recommended appropriation of only $200,000, the proposed budget cuts funding in half for the Safe and Supportive Schools line item (7061-9612).  Representative Ruth Balser of Newton is filing a budget amendment to fund this line item at $400,000. This will restore critical funding for these programs. You can find out more about funding for Safe and Supportive Schools here.
  • Housing Court Expansion
    While the Governor included $1 million to provide for statewide Housing Court in his FY18 budget, the House Ways & Means Committee did not include anyfunding for Housing Court expansion in its proposed budget. Representative Chris Walsh of Framingham will be filing amendments seeking $1.2 million and the authorization to start housing court expansion in January 2018.  Click here for a fact sheet with more information about the importance of statewide Housing Court.
  • Legal Aid Programs
    While the HWM budget would provide an increase in funding for theMassachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (“MLAC”), which funds civil legal aid programs in Massachusetts, the total would be $3.5 million less than requested. Civil legal aid programs already turn away 64% of eligible cases due to lack of funding. This means that more than 54,000 eligible people are turned away each year — over 33,000 in the areas of housing and family law alone. And state funding for civil legal aid is more important now than ever since the President has proposed eliminating funding for legal aid at the federal level.Representative Ruth Balser of Newton will be filing an amendment seeing an additional $1.5 million in funding for civil legal aid. Read more about the need for increased funding for legal aid here.

You can reach your state representative by calling the State House switchboard at 617-722-2000 or by emailing them using the email address found here.

Not sure who your representative is? No problem!  Just enter your address here to find out!

Eager to learn more about the state budget process? Go to our website for an easy-to-understand explanation!

Representatives have only a limited time to co-sponsor budget amendments, so please contact your state representative TODAY!

Thank you for your continued support.

Want to stay informed on the latest issues Massachusetts Appleseed is working on?
Sign up for future action alerts.

School Discipline Know Your Rights Fact Sheets

Our friends at the Greater Boston Legal Services School to Prison Pipeline Intervention Project have created these helpful fact sheets to guide students and parents of students who have been subjected to school discipline. Please note that these are for information purposes only and do not constitute legal advice or establish an attorney client relationship between Massachusetts Appleseed and any visitor to our website. Note also that there are two “know your rights” fact sheets below – one that applies only to Boston Public Schools students and the other that applies to students at all other public school districts. Additionally, the statewide know your rights fact sheets apply to district schools and charter schools, but they do NOT apply to parochial or other private schools. Finally, a student who is accused of possessing drugs, possessing weapons, or assaulting educational staff, will be subject to rules that are slightly different than presented on these sheets. If a student is accused of any of those offenses or charged with a felony, they should seek legal help.

Fact Sheets

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2016 School Climates Conference

2016 “Building Positive School Climates” Conference

MA Appleseed hosted its third “Building Positive School Climates” conference on April 11th, 2016 at Clark University in Worcester. The conference drew a diverse audience of over 200 people from across the state to discuss implementation of the new school discipline law and learn about alternatives to exclusionary zero tolerance policies. Remarks from high-ranking state leaders such as Chief Justice of the Juvenile Courts Amy Nechtem and Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester signaled a significant, multi-sector state-level commitment to school discipline reform, and poignant remarks from Worcester youth inspired many in the audience to consider incorporating Restorative Practices into their work. Overall, participants left feeling encouraged by some of the progress being made in the area of school discipline reform, and equipped with new networks and tools to help them continue this difficult but important work going forward.

Conference materials:

Conference Agenda
Speaker Bios
Presentation Abstracts

Keynote Address:
The Power of Mindsets: Creating a Positive School Climate
Dr. Robert Brooks

Plenary Presentation Materials:
School Discipline in Massachusetts: A Look at the 2015 Data
Rob Curtin, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Youth Perspectives on School Discipline
Carlos Rojas, Rebecca Holland, and Fania Joseph, Youth on Board
The Safe and Supportive Schools Framework
Susan Cole, Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative

Breakout Session Materials:
Deconstructing the School-to-Prison Pipeline: School-Court Collaborations
Honorable Jay D. Blitzman, Middlesex Juvenile Court
Community Schools and Wraparound Zones: Creating a Safe and Supportive Context for Student Success, Wraparound Coordinators, Worcester Public Schools; Dr. Claire Crane and Omar Longus, Center for Community Schools at Salem State University

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2014 School Climates Conference

Keep Kids in Class: Building Positive School Climates

MA Appleseed hosted its 3rd annual conference on May 2, 2014. A diverse audience of educators, advocates, state agencies, and community service providers attended! The conference sparked much discussion about strategies we can employ now to cultivate positive school climates as a reality for all of our children!

The keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Brooks, gave an engaging and galvanizing presentation about the power of mindsets. Using the notion of the “charismatic adult,” Dr. Brooks explained what it means to have a positive mindset and how mindsets impact teachers, students, and the overall school climate.

The following two presentations provided a national context for a discussion of school climate and school discipline. Kate Upatham, an attorney with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), spoke on the federal school discipline guidance, and Dan Losen, from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, presented the most recent OCR school discipline data.

The educators’ panel was the conference highlight! Sara Burd of the Reading Public Schools and Ricci Hall of Worcester Public Schools inspired educators, advocates, and community partners alike when they shared their concrete and practical experiences working with teachers, students, parents, and community members on a daily basis to improve school climates. Anne Gilligan of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education provided an overview and moderated the panel discussion.

The breakout sessions covered topics ranging from principles of culturally responsive practice to implementing the new school discipline law (Chapter 222).

Conference Materials:

Conference Agenda

Keynote Address:
The Power of Mindsets: Creating a Positive School Climate, Dr. Robert Brooks

Supplemental Materials from Understanding and Managing Children’s Classroom Behavior: Creating Sustainable, Resilient Schools (2007) by Sam Goldstein, Ph.D. and Robert Brooks, Ph.D. published by John Wiley & Sons

Developing the Mindset of Effective Students

Developing the Mindset of Effective Teachers

Zero Tolerance” in Schools: How Effective Is it? Dr. Robert Brooks

School Discipline and Data Presentations:

OCR and DoJ’s joint January 2014 Dear Colleague Letter on Race and Discipline

OCR’s Civil Rights Data Collection webpage

The U.S. Department of Education Discipline Guidance Package
Federal School Discipline Data, Daniel J. Losen, UCLA, The Civil Rights Project

Breakout Session Presentations and Handouts:

How to Use Data Well and Recognize the Disparate Impact Based on Race, Gender and Disability, Daniel J. Losen, UCLA, The Civil Rights Project

Implementing the New School Discipline Law: Chapter 222 of the Acts of 2012, Deborah Dorfman, Center for Public Representation

Not Present, Not Accounted For: Trauma, Learning, and School Discipline; How to Create Buy-in for Change,Jennifer Davis Carey, Worcester Education Collaborative

Crisis in School Suspensions, By Jennifer Carey Davis and Mary Jo Marion Farrell

Focusing on Suspensions, By Jennifer Davis Carey

Additional Resources:

Keep Kids in Class: Alternatives to School Discipline by MA Appleseed

Keep Kids in Class: Perspectives on School Based Referrals by MA Appleseed

Parent Guide to School Discipline by MA Appleseed

MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: 2012-13 Student Discipline Data Report (DISTRICT)

Chapter 222 of the Acts of 2012, An Act Relative To Student Access To Educational Services and Exclusion from School

Arrested Futures

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2012 School Climates Conference

Targeted Interventions: Meeting the Needs of Unaccompanied Homeless Youth

MA Appleseed hosted its second annual conference on November 15, 2012. A diverse audience of policy advocates, legislators, state agencies, service providers, and educators attended. The keynote speaker, Christina Murphy, Director of Policy for the National Center on Family Homelessness, spoke on youth homelessness, provided national statistics, and spoke to the urgent needs of homeless youth. Edwin Darden, Director of Education Law and Policy at national Appleseed, presented a synopsis of the findings of recent our policy brief on unaccompanied homeless youth. The conference included a panel discussion addressing the unique vulnerabilities related to education, health, housing, and social justice. The breakout sessions covered topics ranging from appropriate methodologies to count this highly mobile yet invisible population to the importance of wraparound services. The conference created an excellent platform to discuss areas ripe for positive change and potential advocacy strategies to create meaningful improvement in the lives of these children.

Conference Materials

Conference Agenda

Download agenda

Invisible Faces on Facebook

Visit page

Report from the National Center on Family Homelessness: America’s Youngest Outcasts

Download report

MA Appleseed Policy Brief: Unaccompanied, Unidentified, and Uncounted: Developing Strategies to Meet the Needs of America’s Homeless Youth

Download policy brief

Presentation from breakout session #1: Creating a Comprehensive Definition of Unaccompanied Homeless Youth

Download presentation

Presentation and supplemental materials from breakout session #2: Identifying Unaccompanied Homeless Youth: Deriving Data from an Accurate Count

Download presentation

Download supplemental materials

Presentation from breakout session #4: Comprehensive Programs and the Importance of a Wrap-Around Approach

Download presentation