“A spike in local school based arrests and a budget crisis that threatens to strip the city school district of what little counseling support it has does not bode well for those attempting to break the School to Prison pipeline. Still, a panel of warriors trying to stop the large scale incarceration of students of color offered a room filled with educators, school board hopefuls and lawmakers their best thinking on the struggle and may just have picked up some foot soldiers….”
“Leon Smith, an attorney and director for the Racial Justice Project at the Center for Children’s Advocacy, said the School to Prison Pipeline begins when kids are as young as 4 get suspended from school. Among all students, black and Latino males are two to three times more likely to be suspended than white boys. Black girls are five times more likely to be suspended than white girls. Studies also show that minority students are far more likely than white students to get into trouble for similar behaviors. Minority students are far more likely to be viewed as older, less innocent and troublemakers than white students, Smith said.”
Leon Smith, Esq.
Director, Racial Justice Project
Center for Children’s Advocacy
211 State Street, 4th Floor
Bridgeport, CT 06604
(203)335-0719 (p)
(203)330-9580 (f)
Hartford – Bridgeport – New Haven
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