Nearly 3.5 million students missed out on instructional time due to suspension in 2011-2012, with students of color and LGBTQ students being disproportionately affected, according to a recent report.
The report, "Power in Partnerships: Building Connections at the Intersections of Racial Justice and LGBTQ Movements to End the School-to-Prison Pipeline," is a product of the work being done by the Equality Federation, Advancement Project and the Gay Straight Alliance Network.
It calls for greater collaboration between LGBT organizations and racial justice organizations to address the disparities in school discipline occurring within schools along the lines of race, gender and sexual orientation that are creating the school to prison pipeline.
"Each of our groups works with a network of organizations across the country, in our case the statewide LGBT advocacy groups," explained Ian Palmquist, director of leadership programs for Equality Federation. "The GSA Network has state networks of alliances and Advancement Project has a great network of racial justice organizations and education justice organizations throughout the country.
"Our local partners have been starting to come together in a few places and we've been trying to foster those collaborations. This report is an opportunity for us to put out a call to action for broader engagement across these kinds of organizations and to share some of the lessons we've learned from this work so far."
The school to prison pipeline describes policies and practices that push students out of school and onto a path toward prison.
Some of the key issues students face within their schools are dress code policies that target students of color and gender nonconforming students, zero tolerance policies that often harm the students they are meant to protect, and the militarization of schools as cops replace counselors and support staff, leading to a more direct route from school to jail than has ever existed in the past.
Palmquist said students of color are certainly the most affected group when it comes to disparities in school punishment, but LGBT students are also frequently targeted for harsher penalties, and LGBT students of color are uniquely impacted.
According to the report, "Black students were suspended or expelled at three times the rate of white students, while Black girls were six times more likely than white girls to be suspended.
"Furthermore, LGBTQ youth of color and gender-nonconforming youth report increased surveillance and policing, biased application of policies, and blame for their own victimization in schools."
Palmquist said students with intersecting identities are often overlooked in current efforts to reform school policies and practices, because organizations typically have a narrow focus, either working on issues around how policies and practices impact students of color or how they impact LGBTQ students.
"It requires us to really broaden that view and to incorporate a racial justice lens in LGBTQ work and vice versa," he said. "We really feel like there is no way to be successful in this work for all the young people who need us to be successful without combining efforts. Our communities are both so intimately affected by this issue that partnership is really absolutely necessary."
Palmquist said there are a handful of LGBT organizations and racial justice organizations that have come together to do this work, and the report highlights several of those efforts as well as provides helpful tools for working together and overcoming barriers that can hinder collaboration.
"We've seen fantastic partnerships," he said.
For example, in New Mexico, LGBT advocacy organization Equality New Mexico is working with a handful of collaborators on implementing restorative justice practices in the state's school system.
"Restorative justice can't just be 'a part' of our safe schools work; rather, it is the crux," said Equality New Mexico Executive Director Amber Royster in the report.
Royster highlighted some of the issues impacting student safety within the school system that the collaboration seeks to change.
"In the case of safe schools, for instance, we have to address student and teacher bullying and abuse based on race and ethnicity, just as we do on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. We are concerned with the militarization of our schools through excessive law enforcement presence—we need counselors, not cops. And zero-tolerance policies are anathema to reducing school push out, so we have a lot of work to do at the local level to examine and remedy existing policies."
Palmquist said schools tend to rely on suspension as a punishment, despite it being ineffective.
"In most cases suspension is really not effective at resolving the conflict that leads to some of these violations," he said. "That is why a number of school districts have been implementing restorative justice practices, which give students a chance to grapple with the conflict and resolve it rather than giving people a time out for a few days.
"We really want to see schools make sure young people are staying in school and are not pushed out on the streets or charged with crimes for things that could be easily handled within the school arena," Palmquist said.
To read the full report, visit www.equalityfederation.org/2015/09/collaboration-between-racial-justice-and-lgbt-organizations-urgently-needed-to-address-school-discipline-crisis-report/ .
