Newsletter from Learning for Justice

If you are having trouble reading this email, read the online version. ([link removed])
[link removed]
December 6, 2022


** Educators Can Disrupt the School-to-Prison Pipeline

------------------------------------------------------------
“Trauma-informed and restorative justice practices are among the beginning models of an equity process to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. And while systemic change is essential, educators have an immediate responsibility to prioritize the mental health and well-being of students.” —Anthony Conwright, journalist and educator
[link removed]


** Decarceration Begins With School Discipline Reform
------------------------------------------------------------
Educators have a role in ending discipline that criminalizes youth. Reforms, including trauma-informed and restorative practices, can disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline.
Journalist and educator Anthony Conwright writes in this article ([link removed]) from the Fall 2022 issue of Learning for Justice magazine: “If the U.S. education system is to become equitable, its reproduction of historical oppression must be eliminated. The current system—born of the same DNA as a country that rendered the humanity of Black people invalid—is intertwined in a tradition that had the purpose of moving Black people into enslavement through incarceration. No structure in the U.S. educational system is immune to the nation’s legacy as an anti-Black, enslaver country, and that legacy is present in harsh discipline practices that disproportionally affect Black, Indigenous and other youth of color.”
[link removed]


** Toolkit: The Foundations of Restorative Justice
------------------------------------------------------------
In this LFJ resource ([link removed])
—a companion piece to the feature article ([link removed]) from the Spring 2021 issue of Learning for Justice magazine, “It Was Always About Control”—learn more about restorative practices and the required structural changes needed to implement this framework. Educators and advocates offer solutions to school discipline and classroom management that do not have to be based in compliance.
[link removed]


** From Slavery to School Discipline
------------------------------------------------------------
Envisioning schools that affirm and protect Black students means reckoning with a long history of racist punishment. Journalist Anoa Changa proclaims, in this article ([link removed]) from the Spring 2022 issue of
Learning for Justice magazine, “Individual practices, however, cannot overcome deeply embedded policies with built-in biases. To the extent possible, teachers should support efforts to address inherently harmful systems.”


** Resource Spotlight
------------------------------------------------------------
* Envisioning School Safety Without Police ([link removed])
* Trauma-responsive Education: Supporting Students and Yourself ([link removed])


** Check Out What We’re Reading
------------------------------------------------------------
“More districts have turned to restorative justice these days, realizing that students need extra support now, as they recover from the trauma and disruption of the pandemic.” —E ([link removed]) ducation Week ([link removed])

“
But what we’ve come to believe is that Black children don’t need ‘toughness.’ Life is already tough for many of them. They need an abundance of love that is propped up with empathy and compassion.” —C ([link removed]) halkbeat ([link removed])

“When kids can’t find mental health services in their communities, the onus falls on school systems, which don’t have the option to turn students away.” —ProPublica ([link removed])
[link removed]
Have a comment, question or idea for Learning for Justice? Drop us a line at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

============================================================
** ([link removed])
** ([link removed])
** ([link removed])
** ([link removed])
** CLASSROOM RESOURCES ([link removed])
| ** MAGAZINE ([link removed])
| ** FILM KITS ([link removed])
| ** PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ([link removed])

Copyright © 2022 Learning for Justice. All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
400 Washington Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36104
334-956-8200 | ** learningforjustice.org ([link removed])

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can
** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.