WEBINAR | A Year After Parkland | Communities for Just Schools Fund

A Year After Parkland:

Elevating Silenced Voices in the School Safety Conversation

Webinar Presentation | February 14, 2019 | 3:30pm ET

Overview:

On the one year anniversary of the Parkland tragedy, join CJSF and our partners and allies as we share the vision of public education that youth, parents, and teachers are fighting for--a vision that is not limited by a narrow and deeply flawed understanding of safety. Join us as we discuss what it looks like to push towards investments and supports that will actually transform schools into places where all young people are prepared to succeed and thrive in school, in career, and in life. Learn how you can get involved and leave with concrete tools for action.

Learning Objectives:

Develop a deeper understanding of how and why hardening schools threatens the emotional and physical safety of students of color, LGBTQ students, and their peers.
Learn about concrete policy and practice recommendations organizers working on the front lines for education justice are advancing to ensure schools are safe and supportive places that embrace all students' genius.
Engage in dialogue with other educators, funders, advocates and organizers about how YOU can take action and how you can make use of resources like the CJSF's "Do The Harder Work" report and the Alliance for Educational Justice's "We Came To Learn" report.

Tyler Whittenberg, Deputy Director of Advancement Project's Ending the Schoolhouse-to-Jailhouse Track project
Monica Acosta, Director of Organizing for Padres y Jovenes Unidos
Jonathan Stith, National Coordinator for the Alliance for Educational Justice
Marlyn Tillman, Dignity in Schools Campaign Federal Co-Chair & Founder of Gwinnett SToPP
Andrea Color, Youth Organizer with the Rockaway Youth Task Force & Urban Youth Collaborative
Kate Terenzi, Staff Attorney for Education Justice Campaigns with Center for Popular Democracy

Meet The Panel

Conversation Context:

Physical safety and security measures--which criminalize students of color, LGBTQ+ and gender nonconforming youth, as well as their communities—have received outsized attention in the year since the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. While emergency planning and infrastructure are important components of school design, calls to arm teachers, increase police presence in schools, and invest in further improving physical security infrastructure all too often come at the expense of more holistic considerations of student well-being. Investments proven to criminalize children threaten to derail efforts towards the kinds of schools all young people need and deserve.

For years, youth and parent organizers have advocated for eliminating exclusionary discipline and moving to positive school climate efforts that include an embedded sense of safety and wellness for all students and an explicit emphasis on racial equity.

• Do The Harder Work: Create Cultures of Connectedness in Schools