This week is the National Week of Action against School Pushout and my organization has been actively involved.

We co-organized, along with our comrades at the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance and the Chicago Freedom School, a wonderful event that took place on Monday evening. The event “Stand Up/Speak Out About School Pushout: A Youth Panel & Town Hall” drew an intergenerational packed house.

photo by Sarah Jane Rhee (9/30/13)

I was honored to moderate two panels: the first was made up of current & former CPS students who are youth activists and the second was comprised of representatives from community-based organizations and the justice system.

photo by Sarah Jane Rhee (9/30/13)

The focus of the conversations was on how harsh school disciplinary policies and high stakes testing contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline. We also discussed current efforts to resist and push back against school pushout. To learn more about the school-to-prison pipeline and school pushout, visit the Suspension Stories site (which I worked with a group of terrific young people to create a few years ago).

In Illinois (as in the rest of the country), we spend disproportionately on incarcerating our youth.

Everyone on the panels agreed that we need a radical change in our priorities and that we must shift resources from punishment to positive investments in the health & well-being of our children.