Discussion of what schools can do to stop pushout and shift toward a culture that treats students with dignity and respects their right to an education.  Speakers discussed elements of a model school code including preventive disciplinary policies, protocols for police involvement in school, and frameworks for high quality education.  This call was part of an ongoing, collective effort to draft a human rights-based Model School Code that will be discussed at the upcoming ABA-CRLC Children's Rights Summit in Chicago on October 23.

Presenters:

• Nancy Franklin, Director, Professional Development/LRE Initiatives, Los Angeles Unified School District
• Udi Ofer, Advocacy Director, New York Civil Liberties Union
• Paul Weckstein, Co-Director, Center for Law and Education

Listen to Part 1and Part 2 of the September 15 call.

Call #2: The Impact of Corporal Punishment, Restraint and Seclusion, and How Education Stimulus Dollars Can Be Used to Solve Part of the Pushout Problem

The second call of the series will discuss how the disproportionate use of corporal punishment and the harmful effects of restraint and seclusion contribute to the pushout problem for students with disabilities.  The call will also address how schools can better serve the needs of students with disabilities through the use of programs such as Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) and how the education stimulus dollars can be used for such purposes.

Presenters:

• Alice Farmer, Aryeh Neier Fellow, ACLU and Human Rights Watch
  
  "Corporal Punishment of Special Education Students in U.S. Public Schools"
  
  Powerpoint presentation (also available in PDF)
• Jane Hudson, Senior Staff Attorney, National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)
  
  "How Restraint/Seclusion is Pushing Students with Disabilities Out of School" 
  
  Powerpoint presentation (also available in PDF)
• Matthew Cregor, Staff Attorney, Southern Poverty Law Center
  
  "How Education Stimulus Dollars Can Be Used to Solve Part of the Pushout Problem" 
  
  View the Powerpoint presentation (also available in PDF)

Listen to a Recording of the April 7 Call

This is the first of a three part series of conference calls on Special Education and Pushout.  Contact Lori Turner if you are interested in participating in the upcoming calls in 2009.

Call #1:  The Impact of and Solutions to Schools’ Failure to Appropriately Address Disability-Related Behavior (Description of the call with speaker bios)

Discussion of problems students with disabilities experience when their schools fail to appropriately address behavioral issues arising from their disabilities, and strategies for how schools can better serve the needs of students and their families.

• Matthew Engel, Senior Staff Attorney, Disability Law Center of Massachusetts
• Ron Lospennato, Director, Southern Poverty Law Center School to Prison Reform Project
• Jacki Anderson, Professor of Special Education, California State University, East Bay
• Lucille Eber, State Director, Illinois Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports Network

Listen to the Dec 18 call on The Impact of and Solutions to Schools’ Failure to Appropriately Address Disability-Related Behavior
Click here for Part 1 and Part 2

A Membership Skills Building Training Call from the
US Human Rights Network and the Dignity in Schools Campaign

Introduction to human rights treaties and standards for education and school discipline, and disucssion of how we can use human rights to understand and strategize against the school to prison pipeline and support legislation that will protect our young people.

• Liz Sullivan, Core Group Member of the Dignity in Schools Campaign and Education Program Director at the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) will present on the call.

Access the powerpoint presentation from the call.

Discussion of the unique barriers immigrant students encounter in school settings that push them out of school and how schools can better respond to the needs of immigrant students and their families.

• Arlen Benjamin-Gomez, Staff Attorney, Advocates for Children of New York
• Len Rieser, Co-Director, Education Law Center, Pennsylvania
• Mark Gonzales, Educator, High School for Recording Arts; Director of Community Partnerships, AIM, California
• Patricia Nix-Hodes, Associate Director of the Law Project, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

View the invitation for more details

Listen to the July 24 call on How Immigrant Students are Being Pushed Out
Click here

Discussion of the benefits and potential problems posed by charter schools for meeting the needs of at-risk youth, promoting inclusive schools, and encouraging positive behavior in students.

• Tracie Washington, President & CEO, The Louisiana Justice Institute
• Neerav Kingsland, Director of School Investment, New Schools for New Orleans
• Karran Harper Royal, Member of Advisory Board of New Orleans Recovery School District & Parent Active

Listen to the Feb 20 call on Charter Schools and Pushout
Click here for Part 1 and Part 2

Discussion about legislation to make No Child Left Behind funds available for Positive Behavior Support programs and other efforts to create a positive school climate. Speakers discussed how advocates can promote this and other national policies to reduce exclusionary discipline and pushout.

• John Gardner, Illinois Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) Network
• Russell Skiba, Indiana University School of Education
• Maisie Chin, Community Asset Development Re-defining Education (CADRE)
• Catherine Kim, Racial Justice Program, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Listen to the Nov 13 call on Federal Legislation for Positive Approaches to Discipline
Click here for Part 1 and Part 2

Overview of alternative programs and discussion on the strategies for assessing and improving alternative programs. Following the call, the DSC produced the practical guide – Alternative Schools and Pushout: Research and Advocacy Guide.

• Gisela Alvarez and Shawn Morehead, Advocates for Children of New York
• Dan Losen, Senior Education Law and Policy Associate at The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University
• Dr. Augustina Reyes, Professor, University of Houston
• Dr. Lois A. Weinberg, Professor, California State University
• Jack Wuest, Director, Alternative Schools Network Chicago

Listen to the May 29 call on Alternative School Programs
Click here for Part 1 and Part 2

Discussion about how philosophies of zero tolerance influence school policies beyond student discipline and how the police presence in schools and school drug, gang and truancy policies lead to pushout.

• Brian Lambert, Racial Justice Project Fellow, ACLU of Northern California
• Dr. Augustina Reyes, Professor, University of Houston
• Dr. Rodney Skager, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA
• Liz Sullivan, Education Program Director, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative

• Bernardine Dohrn, Children & Family Justice Center, Northwestern School of Law
• Dan Losen, Harvard Civil Rights Project
• Hon. Dora F. Olivo, Texas House of Representatives
• Sally Lee, Teachers Unite & New York Collective of Radical Educators

Discussion of a school district’s attempt to create a proactive discipline policy based on positive behavior supports. Some participants subsequently wrote letters of support to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education.

• Rochelle Montgomery, Associate General Counsel, LAUSD
• Hector Madrigal, Director of Pupil Services, LAUSD

• Nancy Riestenberg, Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning
• Liz Sullivan, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative

• Jose L. Martin, Esq., Richards Lindsay and Martin
• Sherri S. Sobel, Referee, Los Angeles Country Juvenile Court
• Russell Skiba, Ph.D., Indiana University School of Education