Campaign News

12.18.2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:                                            Monica Klein, 917-565-0715 monica@seneca-strategies.com

**Interviews available with student activists and national education justice leaders**

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the Federal Commission on School Safety, the Trump Administration’s response to the Parkland tragedy, released its final report. The body, chaired by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and including Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, released recommendations that are proven to make school less safe for students of color, LGBTQ+ and gender nonconforming youth, and their communities. The recommendations call for rescinding critical federal civil rights guidance on school discipline, a blueprint for how to arm school staff, and encourage the entrenchment of the school-to-prison pipeline through militarizing and “hardening” schools with military personnel, police, metal detectors, and surveillance equipment. Youth-, parent-, educator-, and community-led organizations across the country reject the commission’s recommendations aimed at “hardening” schools. Such policies will lead to a further entrenchment of racial and gender-based discrimination in school discipline and deny students an opportunity to learn and the freedom to thrive.

“For students like us, this is not what safety means,” said Amina Henderson-Redwan, a youth leader with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE) who testified before the Commission in June. “Safety does not mean more police in schools, more metal detectors and armed teachers. Safety means to get to the root causes of a student's misbehavior. This Federal Commission on School Safety needs to listen to communities that it's supposed to represent, communities like mine.”

The following activists and leaders are available for interviews on the report:

Jaime Koppel, Deputy Director of Strategic Partnerships, Communities for Just Schools Fund: (646) 894-1150 Marlyn Tillman, Parent & Executive Director, Gwinnett SToPP: (404) 402-2076 Jonathan Stith, National Director, Alliance for Educational Justice: 202-460-3875 Nia Arrington, 18-year-old student and Co-Founder of the Youth Power Collective to end the school-to-prison pipeline. Please reply to this email to schedule interview.

For years, organizers working with the Communities for Just Schools Fund, the Alliance for Educational Justice, the Center for Popular Democracy and Dignity in Schools Campaign have advocated for an end to discriminatory and exclusionary discipline policies that funnel young people towards prison rather than success. We believe that holistic approaches to student wellbeing are the way to make our schools more safe, supportive, and inclusive instead of the recommendations from the Commission, which would harm and criminalize youth of color. In response, students and organizers released the following quotes detailing the opposition they had with the report findings.

Jaime Koppel, Deputy Director of Strategic Partnerships, Communities for Just Schools Fund “These recommendations do not represent the will of the people or the best interests of the majority of this nation’s public school children. We call on states and local school districts to do the the harder work of fostering deep relationships and connection in school by investing in restorative justice, culturally relevant curricula, diverse teaching and support staff, anti-bias training, mental and emotional health supports and more to actually make our schools more safe. Youth and parents have made their vision for safety clear in CJSF’s new report, “Do the Harder Work: Create Cultures of Connectedness in Schools.”

Jonathan Stith, Executive Director, Alliance for Educational Justice “DeVos and the Commission have completely ignored the voices of the 1.6 million Black and Brown students who attend schools with a police officer but no guidance counselor. Students are calling for police-free schools where their ‘safety’ is not synonymous with their criminalization. Every day they come to school to learn and instead are greeted by metal detectors and by the same police force killing their unarmed peers in the street or separating them from their families. Safety for Black and Brown students doesn’t mean more police abusing them like the #AssaultAtBruslyMiddle in Baton Rouge earlier this year.  Neither is arming the very racially biased teacher who has fueled the school-to-prison pipeline an answer to school safety.”

Dmitri Holtzman, Director of Education Justice Campaigns, Center for Popular Democracy “While rescinding the Federal Guidance on School Discipline does not in any way alter federal civil rights laws, it does send a clear message to millions of Black, Brown, Immigrant, LGBTQ and Transgender students that the Federal Government is turning its back on them instead of proactively protecting their fundamental rights. Together with the other recommendations aimed at “hardening schools” (more military personnel, police, metal detectors etc.) rescinding the Guidelines signals an authoritarian, punitive and oppressive approach to ‘school safety’ which we know will have a the most detrimental effect on children and youth of color, in particular.”   

Thena Robinson Mock, Program Officer, Communities for Just Schools Fund “It is important to make clear that the proposed rescission of the federal discipline guidance doesn’t change civil rights protections in public education. However, the school safety commission’s reversal of evidenced-based guidance aimed at creating safer and healthier schools dismisses proven solutions to improving school climate that have been vetted by educators, students, and parents.”

Marlyn Tillman, a parent organizer with Gwinnett SToPP “Upon attending the first listening session held by the commission, it was clear that the commission made a disingenuous attempt to engage the public. The timing of the notices were not conducive for parents and youth to be included in a meaningful way on a topic that impacts them directly. I followed up with FOIA requests in an attempt to assure again that the public received proper notice of these sessions. In August, I received a response that there weren't any records responsive to my requests.Yet more pop up meetings and listening sessions were held. It is clear this commission intentionally beguiled the public.”

Brikaia Hines, Youth Leader, Leaders Igniting Transformation “After the Parkland school shooting, youth of color made our demands clear in our #YouthDemand petition - endorsed by more than 5,000 people and 40 national and local organizations, in which we demanded: divestment from school policing, investments in schools and teachers, more guidance counselors, protections for families and children against ICE arrests, among other things. DeVos and her commission have chosen to ignore us, but we will be heard. Our civil rights matter.”

Ricardo Martinez, Co-Director, Padres y Jóvenes Unidos “We often hear that school safety is sidearms and metal detectors. For us, it is a relationship between family and school personnel. We need to open arms to students and families, and hire more mental health professionals.”

Zakiya Sankara-Jabar, National Field Organizer, Dignity in Schools Campaign “The commission sent a message today that they do not value the lives and well being of all students. Hardening schools will never be the answer. Our coalition of over 100 organizations believes that we can create safe, nurturing schools without pushing students into the school-to-prison pipeline. Regardless, of the decision to rescind the guidance, the law is still the law, and we will fight to protect the civil rights of all young people.”

An Intentionally Flawed & Limiting Public Input Process Leads to Recommendations That Do Not Represent Public Comment On March 24, 2018, hundreds of thousands of young people, families, educators, and community members came to Washington, D.C. to demonstrate their commitment to a new vision of school safety. Yet the Commission sidelined these key constituencies. They only held public input sessions in four cities--Washington, D.C., Lexington, KY, Cheyenne, WY, and Montgomery, AL -- with little to no notice beforehand so that students and professionals often could not make arrangements to attend. The members of the Commission did not even attend these sessions. All were represented by proxy.

In a decision that underscores the Administration’s lack of commitment to protecting students’ civil rights, the school safety commission rescinded the 2014 U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education joint civil rights guidance on school discipline that outlines evidence-based best practices and recommendations for school officials to administer discipline in a manner that does not discriminate against students on the basis of race, color, or national origin. The 2014 school discipline guidance encourages schools to improve overall school climate, find alternatives to exclusionary discipline practices (such as out-of-school suspensions and school-based arrests) that lead to school pushout, and ensure that there are sufficient school-based counselors, social workers, and other mental health providers and support services to address and prevent challenges that may occur in schools.

The Commission has completely ignored the calls of millions of young people who have consistently called for an end to the criminalization of Black and Brown students, as well as their communities. Young people, parents, and communities have instead called for holistic approaches to school climate that include mental health care, restorative practices, and the resources they need to thrive.

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Communities for Just Schools Fund is a national donor collaborative that provides resources in support of community-led organizations that are working to ensure positive, safe and supportive school climates that protect and affirm the inherent cultural dignity of all students and foster the success of all students.

Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ) is comprised of membership organizations committed to the engagement of youth of color, LGBTQ youth, and their parents - key constituencies deeply impacted by racialized achievement gaps and bias-based disparities in school disciplinary policies.

Center for Popular Democracy promotes equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with innovative base-building organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and progressive unions across the country. CPD builds the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial justice agenda.

The Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) is a national coalition of over 100 organizations dedicated to dismantling the School-to Prison Pipeline. DSC fights for the human right of every young person to a quality education and to be treated with dignity. We have challenged the systemic use of exclusionary discipline practices that disproportionately impact students of color, students with disabilities, and students who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ), a problem that the U.S. Department of Education’s most recent civil rights data verifies.

Neel Kashkari tried living on streets for a week during his failed run for California governor in 2014. Now, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis will spend a day in the life of a black family barely making ends meet.

“Walking a day in somebody else’s shoes is actually -- it makes the anecdotes that much more real,” Kashkari, 43, told reporters Wednesday in Minneapolis after a meeting with the local community to discuss race and economic inequality. “It influences how I think about the problems we face.”

Kashkari, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive who went on to oversee the U.S. government’s $700 billion financial rescue program, took the helm of the Minneapolis Fed in January.

National poverty levels among blacks stand at 26 percent, more than double those for whites. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has discussed inequality and the fact that minorities have higher unemployment than whites in speeches and testimony to Congress.

Outrage has mounted in the U.S. over a recent spate of fatal shootings of black men by police, some of which were filmed and broadcast over social media, worsening racial tensions in many communities.

On Wednesday, Kashkari, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from India, heard Rosheeda Credit describe how she and her boyfriend worked three jobs between them to support their family. She then invited him to find out himself what it was like by spending the day with her.

Kashkari said he’d be “happy to do it.”

The Fed has also been under fire from Democrats, including presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, for a lack of diversity on the boards of directors on the 12 regional Fed banks. Kashkari said the central bank had a lot of work to do to improve diversity and was committed to making that happen.

By ALISTER BULL & JEANNA SMIALEK

Source

Ana Maria Archila, one of the protesters who spoke to Mr. Flake on his way to the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Friday.

Watch the video here.

Advocates who opposed a policy of keeping documents submitted by IDNYC applicants believe the doubts they raised in 2014 have been validated by the legal fight over destroying those papers before Donald Trump becomes president.

“Now they’re saying, ‘If they come for the data, we’re going to burn it,'” says Abraham Paulos, executive director of Families for Freedom. “Well, then why did you keep in in the first place?”

The policy of keeping documents was not part of the original version of the IDNYC law but was added during intense negotiations involving City Hall, the NYPD and advocacy groups.

Some of those advocacy groups—like Families for Freedom and the New York Civil Liberties Union—ended their support for the IDNYC program over the retention policies because they feared the information could be used by federal authorities hunting for undocumented immigrants. Other organizations expressed concerns but continue to support the bill and promoted the ID program.

The fears about the documents have grown more widespread since Trump, who has pledged to deport millions of people, won election. A lawsuit by two Staten Island lawmakers has at least temporarily halted the city from a planned purge of the documents in its possession.

Mayor de Blasio recently said that IDNYC, one of his signature achievements, would no longer retain copies of passports, utility bills and other documents submitted by people applying for the card, which is held by more than 860,000 New Yorkers.

For advocates, that move—while welcome—casts a harsh light on the decision to collect the documents in the first place. Still, many immigration advocates think the ID was a positive step.

Obstacles to an idea

New Haven, Conn., was the first city to issue a municipal ID in 2007, and some local advocates had been pushing for New York City to follow suit in order to give a widely usable ID card to the undocumented as well as others who lacked official identification. De Blasio embraced the ID as a candidate and called for it in his first State of the City speech.

From the outset, the idea faced an obstacle: How do you create a tool that will be especially useful for undocumented people without making it a scarlet letter? Attaching museum discounts and other benefits to the card aimed to broaden its appeal so that even citizens would obtain it.

But while that broader usage meant the card itself didn’t necessarily indicate a holder’s immigration status, the documents associated with each application still could. To obtain an IDNYC, a person has to present documents that establish identity and residency. Among the accepted proofs of identity are foreign passports, consular ID, foreign military identification—all of which could indicate a lack of legal presence in the U.S.

The question that triggered tension during the negotiations over IDNYC was whether that material needed to be saved once IDNYC staff reviewed the documents and approved the card.

The first version of the City Council measure that created the program included the language, “The city shall not retain originals or copies of records provided by an applicant to prove identity or residency for a New York City identity card.”

But the language that became law described a very different approach. It permitted the city to, once a quarter, destroying any application documents that had been held for two years. It also created an opportunity to destroy all the documents in the program’s possession “on or before December 31, 2016” and end document retention then—an effort to ensure that the papers could be shredded before an anti-immigrant president took office.

The lawsuit by Assemblymembers Ron Castorina and Nicole Malliotakis, both Staten Island Republicans, argues the state’s freedom of information laws should prevent that destruction of documents. Malliotakis made her opposition to the destruction clause known as early as February 2015.

Behind-the-scenes debate

When IDNYC was being shaped in 2014, “retention to us was something that we absolutely did not want,” Betsy Plum, director of special projects at the New York Immigration Coalition, recalls.

However, “It was critical that the NYPD accept the ID,” she says, because one goal for the ID was for it to be a resource when someone is stopped by police. “For us and the community we work with the NYPD was a really critical partner for us to keep at the table for the ultimate success of IDNYC.”

And the NYPD said it needed the documents to investigate fraud, she says. Plum describes a back and forth between advocates and City Hall over the retention issue. “They came back saying to us: ‘This is the only way it’s going to happen.'”

A mayoral spokesperson says the retention clause was inserted “after consideration from many stakeholders, including NYPD.” In addition to the language permitting destruction after two years or at the end of 2016, the final bill did require a court order or warrant for the documents to be handed over to any third party.

Some advocates believed those safeguards were enough to justify going ahead with the ID. “Once we were able to see a clear path for the data to be protected, we saw the benefits far outweigh the risks,” Plum says.

Another advocate involved in the discussions recalls that the coalition of advocacy groups involved in the negotiations took a vote on whether to maintain or drop support for the measure; a clear majority favored pressing ahead with the ID.

But Families for Freedom did not. Paulos (who was a City Limits intern eight years ago) already harbored concerns about whether the cards themselves could be used to identify undocumented people. “The retention and the data was the deal breaker,” he recalls. “Once we heard that the NYPD was also in the discussion, we pulled out.”

The New York Civil Liberties Union also parted ways with other advocates. “In this bill, the city has not done enough to protect those documents from being used by law enforcement,” NYCLU advocacy director Johanna Miller testified as the bill was about to be signed in July 2014. “While the NYC ID will bring benefits to many people, we are disappointed that the city is inviting New Yorkers to gamble with the stakes as high as prosecution or even deportation.”

A July 2015 report by the Center for Popular Democracy (which supported the New York law) noted that “the vast majority of municipal ID card programs around the country have prohibited the copying or retention of documents presented to prove identity or residency. In New Haven, San Francisco, and Mercer County, NJ, municipal ID card programs have run smoothly for years without copying or retaining personal documents of applicants.”

“The only city-run municipal ID card program that stores applicants’ personal documents is IDNYC,” the report continued.”

No regrets from supporters

In the months after the law’s passage but before it took effect, the commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration—which oversees the ID program—issued executive orders clarifying the protections for IDNYC data and the handling of requests for program information by law enforcement.

But concerns persisted. When the first oversight hearing about the law was held in mid-2015, The Fortune Society testified that it was concerned that, despite the safeguards in the bill, “federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies may not have to meet a probable cause standard to obtain documents.”

Fortune Society director JoAnne Page now tells City Limits: “The more vulnerable people are, the most risk that damage will be done,” if personal information falls into the wrong hands. “I don’t think there is a more vulnerable group than undocumented immigrants who have criminal records.”

Plum says despite the Trump election and the lawsuit, NYIC has no regrets about its decision to support the bill despite the retention policy. “If we were all to live in a reality where we only acted as it if the worst possible things could happen and we allows ourselves to educate and serve communities from a lens of total paranoia, I think we’d have a far worse outcome for the communities we serve and protect,” she says. “I think still with the ID the benefits have and still do outweigh the risks. The alternative here would be to have had no IDNYC – to have parent who can’t get into their kids schools, to have families unable to open bank accounts, to have survivors of domestic violence afraid to call the police because they have no way to identify themselves. I don’t think anyone would want to sacrifice any of those benefits.”

The Castorina-Malliotakis lawsuit is next in court on January 18. NYCLU staff attorney Jordan Wells says he believes the city will ultimately be able to follow through on their plans to destroy the documents. “The lawsuit pending in Staten Island is without merit,” he says. “Eventually the city will be able to follow the procedure.”

But Paulos believes damage has already been done. The fact that the city will now destroy the documents, and will no longer keep those generated for new applications, makes it hard to credit the assertions that keeping that paperwork was necessary in the first place. “There’s a lot of mistrust.”

By Jarrett Murphy

Source