>>Watch Part I: Criminalization to Healing: The Movement to Decriminalize Education

Our panelists painted a picture of what safety in schools looks like:

• Deep relationship building between students and staff
• Addressing root causes within schools and the larger community
• Providing culturally and historically affirming education
• Restorative justice practices and peace programs
• School-based mental health services
• Schools that are centers of healing engagement
• “Villages” that embrace their children

Achieving this vision of safety is not easy – it requires resources, partnerships, and the right people. The panel made clear that achieving this vision is possible if we divest from systems that harm our communities and invest in safety reimagined in this way.

Panelists: 

• Art McCoy, Ph.D., CEO/Superintendent of Schools, Jennings Public School District, SAGES LLC and 501c3, Jennings, MO
• Jasmine Delafosse, Senior Regional Organizer, The Gathering for Justice, Stockton, CA 
• Meyiya Coleman, VOYCE Project, Chicago, IL  

Resources: 

• We are pressed on every side, but we are not crushed
• Defund police in schools and expand school-based mental health 
• Counseling Not Criminalization Act
• Reclaiming SEL 
• When SEL is used as another form of policing
• Dr. Art McCoy’s powerpoint 
• The Education Trust – West
• Mass Incarceration Costs $182 Billion Every Year Without Adding Much to Public Safety
• Resolution to Promote Shared Safety for Stockton Students & Families and Defund the Stockton Unified School District Police Department
• California Department of Justice, Stockton Unified School District Enter into Agreement to Address Discriminatory Treatment of Minority Students and Students with Disabilities
• Final Judgement
• Initial Complaint