NYCLU hosts school-to-prison pipeline town hall
BY JASON COHEN
In underserved communities,
especially the Bronx,
over-policing on NYC public
school students has a notoriously
negative affect on children.
On Thursday, January 16,
the New York Civil Liberties
Union hosted a school-to-prison
pipeline town hall at the Taft
Educational Campus, 240 E.
172nd Street, to give students,
organizers, advocates, policy
experts and legislators an opportunity
to discuss the impact
policing has on students.
The school-to-prison pipeline
refers to education and
public safety policies that
push students into the criminal
legal system.
The NYCLU works to end
zero-tolerance discipline policies,
to limit the role of police
in schools, and to reduce the
reliance on invasive technologies
like metal detectors and
biometric surveillance systems
that treat students with
suspicion.
The panelists at the event
were, Carlos Torres, organizer
of Save Our Streets,
Tara Brown-Arnell, director,
The audience at the NYCLU school-to-prison pipeline townhall at the Taft Educational campus on Thursday,
January 16. Schneps Media Jason Cohen
BronxConnect, Shani Douglas,
teacher, Taft Educational
Campus, Alliyah Logan, operations
manager of the Teen
Activist Project, New York
Civil Liberties Union, Abe
Cohen-Garcia, a teacher at
the Bronx Arena High School
in Soundview and Grisel Cardona,
Parent Action Committee
President.
Torres told the audience
that a lot of the violence could
be prevented if black and
brown children were treated
better in school. He noted that
too often kids are disciplined
before getting to the root of the
problem.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,36 JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2020 BTR
“The fi rst thing we need to
do is recognize that the school
to prison pipeline affects
men and women of color,” he
stressed. “As a society, we’re
quick to judge and punish
young people. Maybe it’s time
to start listening.”
Logan, who attended elementary
and middle school
in the Bronx, but goes to high
school in Manhattan, explained
there is a drastic difference
in education between
the boroughs. She said her
schools in the Bronx had many
fi ghts and metal detectors, yet
in the city, that doesn’t occur.
“This is very transformative
for me,” she remarked.
“I realized how much we normalize
violence.”
Cardona, who has two children
in the school system, always
tells them to be part of
the solution, not the problem.
More importantly, she doesn’t
want them to be suspended often
like she was.
“Unfortunately students
of color are more likely to be
suspended and more likely to
start a path toward the criminal
justice system,” Cardona
said. “As an active parent advocate,
I want to make a difference
for more than just my
children.”
Among the attendees was
Ashley Fernandez, a senior at
Dreamyard Prep. Fernandez,
who emigrated from the Dominican
Republic when she
was younger, experienced bullying
fi rsthand because of her
skin color and schools didn’t
want her because she didn’t
speak English.
She hopes that more people
in the community think
like the panelists and realize
that how black and brown
people are treated in schools
is wrong.
“Usually as a teen, we don’t
think we have the support
we need,” she said. “I’m motivated
to becoming better, to
be listening more and doing
something better for the community.
Just because you have
different skin doesn’t make
you any better than us.”
SIRECI
Family Dental
Your Neighborhood Dentist Since 1983
GENERAL DENTISTRY
SPECIALTY CARE
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������ ��
�� ����������������������������
������������������������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������
����������������
��������������������������������
��������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������
��������������������
����������������������������������������������
FREE
CONSULTATIONS
COME VISIT US
IN OUR NEW
MODERN OFFICE
C A R I N G A F F O R D A B L E P A I N L E S S
2861 BRUCKNER BLVD. | 718-829-0455