SSA Win 10

YOUTH AND COMMUNITIES ORGANIZE TO WIN

THE STUDENT SAFTY ACT!

MEDIA COVERAGE:

Articles Links:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/47797/99999999/1/1/

http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/4244/student-safety-act-passes-city-council

http://www.dnainfo.com/20101216/manhattan/race-of-suspended-students-would-be-reported-under-new-transparency-law

http://edvox.org/2010/12/17/students-council-stand-up-in-support-of-student-safety-act/

http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/130771/group-urges-council-to-pass-student-safety-act/

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2010/dec/16/city-council-schedules-vote-school-safety-act/

http://gothamschools.org/2010/12/20/after-two-years-council-moves-to-change-school-safety-reports/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/nyregion/21schools.html

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/searchlight/20101221/203/3437

On Monday, December 20th, City Council members voted unanimously to pass the Student Safety Act after a three year campaign with youth organizing at the forefront. DRUM YouthPower!, as a part of the Urban Youth Collaborative and Student Safety Act Coalition, mark a major victory for school policing accountability in NYC and look ahead towards our Dignity in Schools campaign!

“The Student Safety Act will be one of the most progressive school safety reporting laws in the country. We will finally find out what is happening inside our schools when it comes to school safety practices and begin shedding light on the unproductive impacts of zero tolerance policies and aggressive policing in our schools.”- Nazifa Mahboob, youth leader of DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving. Like many young people, Nazifa has spent most of her high school years working hard to pass this legislation.

The Act will require the Department of Education to report to the City Council on the numbers of suspensions, expulsions, arrests and student-police altercations in schools. The City Council can then track and monitor whether discipline is being enforced equally for all students.

For over 3 years, hundreds of youth members of DRUM joined youth & community groups, and advocates to campaign, rally, meet with policy makers, and organize across dozens of schools and neighborhoods. We want to celebrate the many courageous and fierce youth whose hard work over years has made this victory happen for their communities, schools, and futures!

As a South Asian low-income-led organization, many of DRUM’s youth members are Muslim or undocumented immigrants who face particular targeting by School Safety Agents and NYPD in the post 9/11 climate in New York City public schools. DRUM’s 2006 report showed that 48% of South Asian youth reported being asked or threatened for their immigration status by police or officials in an around their school (Education not Deportation: The Impact of School Safety Policies on South Asian Immigrant Students in NYC). We joined forces with African American, Latino, and other youth across the city in a multi-racial, youth led campaign, because we see that our community’s struggles for racial justice are rooted in all low-income communities of color facing the same issues. We believe that schools should not criminalize low-income youth of color nor track them into prisons and low-wage jobs. Equitable access to education is a civil rights struggle of our time as racial and class disparities in access to higher education increase nationally. The Student Safety Act is a first step in NYC away from the over-reliance on police to solve minor problems in schools towards models of Restorative Justice and Positive Behavior Support.

Our victory would not have been possible without the supportive and dedicated collaboration with advocates in the Student Safety Act Coalition, including the NYCLU and Advocates for Children, who have listened to and raised the leadership of young people’s and communities in the coalition.

Youth Power Zindabaad!