This week is the National Week of Action Against School Pushout. Students, teachers and education advocates around the country are holding events to raise awareness about policies they say push kids out of school and into the juvenile justice system. In New Orleans, local groups held a discussion about pushout.
The discussion had a specific focus: the parallel between what's happening in New Orleans schools and what happened this summer in Ferguson, Missouri.
In both cases, "a minor infraction can lead to a very disproportionate consequences for kids," says Jolon McNeil of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana. "We saw that with Michael Brown who was just walking in the street and was stopped by the police and ultimately shot and killed. And we see that often in schools, too."
Like when students are suspended for dress code violations or not walking in a straight line.
Fifteen-year-old Rahsaan Ison says even the language around school discipline sends a strong message.
"You shouldn't call it detention," he says. "You shouldn't be detained. You're just putting that person in the mindset that oh, I'm gonna be in a juvenile detention center one day."
About twenty people attended the event, which was which was co-hosted by Dignity in Schools and Loyola University's National Lawyers Guild. McNeil hopes they start to question – and take action to change – school discipline policies.
Support for education reporting on WWNO comes from Baptist Community Ministries and Entergy Corporation.