“School are prisons. I’m happy to be in college.” I found this comment on youtube under the following news report about zero tolerance policies in American schools produced by ABC Nightly News in 2003. Very little has changed since that time. In fact in some jurisdictions things are considerably worse.

As many young people are headed back to school now, I think that it is important that we continue to wage the fight for RESTORATIVE spaces in our local schools. We have to advocate strongly and loudly against mindless zero tolerance policies while insisting that young people’s rights and dignity are upheld.

The ACLU has a great series called the “Freedom Files.” The following is a preview of an episode for season 2. This episode focuses on the school to prison pipeline. It’s well worth catching the full episode. It serves as a good primer for what many youth are facing in schools across the country.

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