Help Shut Off the School-to-Prison Pipeline, Attorney General Tells 100 Black Men of Atlanta

by Frederick H. Lowe

U.S. Attorney General Eric  Holder said out-of-school suspensions have created a school-to- prison pipeline, and he urged 100 Black Men of Atlanta and similar organizations to work with schools and students to develop a holistic approach to prevent this phenomenon from continuing.

“I know that keeping students engaged and on the right path is about more than just graduation rates,” Holder said on Saturday during a speech before the organization’s Inaugural Members Leadership Summit. “It’s also about helping our children build an attitude that is geared for success. But it’s also about disrupting what’s become known as the ‘school-to-prison pipeline,’ which—in too many places throughout this nation—transforms our schools from doorways to opportunity into gateways to the correctional system.”

School suspensions are too often the first step on the path toward incarceration, he said. “And we’ve learned that suspensions and expulsions during critical years can impact a student’s chances of later success,” Holder added.

He explained that students are deprived of their education in order to punish them for what are often minor infractions or for violations of ineffective and widely criticized zero-tolerance policies.

“Compounding this problem, we’ve often seen that students of color, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and students with special needs are disproportionately likely to be suspended or expended,” Holder said.

“A study conducted in Texas just last year found that minority and special needs children who caused what are termed ‘emotional disturbances’ were more likely than white students to be disciplined,” he added “In fact, 83 percent of African-American male students and 74 percent of Hispanic-male students ended up in trouble and suspended for some period of time.”

Non-white students facing first-time discipline are given harsher out-of-school suspensions.
 
“Tellingly, 97 percent of all suspensions were discretionary and reflected the administrator’s discipline philosophy as much as the student’s behavior,” Holder said. “And there is no reason to believe that what was found in Texas is different in other parts of the country. After being suspended, students are consequently more likely to repeat a grade or drop out more than less-sanctioned fellow students. These same students had lower rates of graduation and higher rates of later criminal activity.”

A 2010 study titled, “Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools In Crisis,” reported that  school systems’  zero-tolerance policies have resulted in a nine-point increase in suspension rates of black students from 6 percent in 1973 to 15 percent in 2006. The study focused on middle schools because the middle-school experience often determines a student’s academic success.

He encouraged 100 Black Men to get involved with schools and students in order to change school-suspension policies.
“These unnecessary and destructive policies must be changed,” Holder said. “And it’s why we’re sharing  what we’ve learned with and relying on organizations like 100 Black Men—here in Atlanta and across the country—to engage educators, as well as students, and to implement the kind of holistic mentoring and outreach programs that can help to break this destructive  policy cycle.”

The Atlanta group is a chapter of 100 Black Men of America Inc., which began with nine chapters in 1986. The goal of the national organization, which now has 116 chapters, is to improve the quality of life for black youth. Their website is www.100blackmen.org