The School to Prison Pipeline: Student Safety Coalition

The Student Safety Coalition works to end the New York City School to Prison Pipeline and its disproportionate impact on youth of color and youth with special needs. Made up of New York City advocacy, academic and community based organizations, the coalition uses a coordinated set of legislative, public education and organizing strategies. To create respectful school environments and ensure the right to education for all students, the coalition promotes positive rather than punitive school safety and discipline measures and the participation of students in school decision-making processes. The coalition has as its main short-term goal the passage of the Student Safety Act by the New York City Council.

The Student Safety Act would extend the jurisdiction of the Civilian Complaint Review Board to cover complaints of misconduct levied against school safety agents, NYPD personnel assigned to provide security in the schools. More than 5,000 school safety agents are assigned to the city's schools, but there is currently no meaningful mechanism for students and their families to report safety agent misconduct.

The act also would require quarterly reporting by the Department of Education and NYPD to the City Council on school safety issues, including incidents involving the arrest, expulsion or suspension of students. It would provide the public with raw data to study the impact of disciplinary and security practices, and encourage the crafting of more effective procedures.

The following organizations are members of the Student Safety Coalition:

• Advocates for Children of New York
• Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW 2325
• Children's Defense Fund – New York
• Class Size Matters
• Correctional Association of New York
• CUNY Graduate Center Participatory Action Research Collective
• Make the Road New York
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
• National Lawyers Guild – New York City Chapter
• New York Civil Liberties Union
• New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
• Suspension Representation Project
• Teachers Unite
• Urban Youth Collaborative

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