I have been thinking a lot about the ways in which the Occupy Movement is adapting and reconstituting itself on a daily basis. This is a good thing. I’d like to suggest that it is way past time that we start occupying the public schools in low-income communities across the country. What is happening inside these buildings is a national disgrace. Just yesterday, I read a disturbing article about the fact that the juvenile justice system in Meridian, Mississippi is now under federal investigation. Many of the most egregious incidents under investigation actually originate from local public schools:

An 8-year-old student in Meridian who had been paddled for talking in class was hauled away in handcuffs when he wouldn’t stop crying.

A middle school student spent three days behind bars at the Lauderdale County Juvenile Detention Center after he wore the wrong socks.

A high school student spent five days behind bars after she was tardy

Unsurprisingly, each of these incidents involved African-American students. When I give talks about the issue of the school-to-prison pipeline, I sometimes encounter resistance from audiences who want to see such examples as outliers. In fact, in the 21st century, harsh school disciplinary policies and zero tolerance are actually the norm in most urban public schools.

Instead of looking for ways to disrupt the symbiotic relationship between schools and law enforcement, politicians are looking for ways to cement those ties. Here in Illinois, an effort is underway to violate student privacy by mandating the exchange of information between law enforcement, schools and juvenile justice advocates:

“Right now, in Illinois, while information-sharing agreements between schools and police are suggested in the state’s school code, they are not required. Schools that have them usually do not spell out how communication should happen, nor how quickly, nor do they keep any sort of data on student police reports and arrests. And police aren’t required to communicate to school officials about ongoing investigations at all…”

I am completely fine with this way of doing business. But apparently some in the state are looking to change these reporting requirements. Mundelein Police Chief Ray Rose offered his rationale for increasing the exchange of information between schools and law enforcement:

“Years ago we used to talk about schools being the safe place. That’s questionable now,” Rose said. Because specific information sharing about students isn’t required, “We don’t know what they’ve been involved in.”

The assertion that it is “questionable” that schools are “the safe place” is preposterous. Schools ARE in fact still the safest places for most young people to spend their days. They always have been and still are. Research backs up this claim. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, incidence of violent crime in schools, already low, was halved between 1993 and 2008. Schools are safer places for most young people than their homes are. No, what law enforcement wants to do is to extend its reach even further into our schools. This is evidenced by another effort taking place between Chicago Police and Chicago Public Schools to launch a school-based CompStat pilot program for high schools:

“CompStat involves weekly crime control strategy meetings during which commanders share and discuss crime incidents, patterns and trends with command staff. The meetings focus on the statistical analysis of crime, where it occurs, how often and by whom, evaluate that and hold commanders accountable for the decisions they have made and the impact they have had on crime in their districts.

School-based CompStat will be unique from CPD CompStat, in part, because “in-school” and school level infraction and incident data will be reviewed in addition to neighborhood incidents. They will be viewed in relation to the violence that occurs around the school and in the surrounding community, giving educators and the police department a more complete picture.“

This increased surveillance within and outside of our school-buildings is being billed by Mayor Rahm Emmanuel as helping “to create a culture of accountability so we can end crime near our schools and make sure our students can focus on their studies, not their safety.” You know what would really ensure that students can focus on their studies in Chicago, ending the practice of “teaching to the test,” fully funding comprehensive enrichment programs, insisting that our best and strongest teachers work on our most challenging schools… I can go on. The focus on making law enforcement the end all and be all of ensuring student “safety” is a deeply flawed approach.

In light of the recently-released study suggesting that nearly a third of young people have been arrested by age 23, perhaps we need to take a step back and reassess our reliance on law enforcement to solve problems that were previously handled at the community level. Time for our communities to occupy our public schools in order to wrest control back from the criminal legal system!