In Class to Incarceration: Re-Imagining the School to Prison Pipeline

By Kareena Pamani

What is the school to prison pipeline? How do zero tolerance policies perpetuate this? How can we as morally bound humans, do our part in recognizing these injustices, as well as start to correct them? 

As a former (and future teacher), these questions have long floated around in my head. Although some may not recognize or be aware of a school to prison pipeline, the existence and perpetuation of this pipeline is ever apparent to me.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund describes the school-to-prison-pipeline as “the funneling of students out of school and into the streets and the juvenile correction system.”  In today’s America, children are criminalized and forced into spaces without a quality education. How do practices existing within schools today maintain and funnel more students into a lifetime of injustice? How are already marginalized communities further diminished and wrongfully harmed through this process?

Prior to enrolling in graduate school, I was teaching within a network of charter schools in New York City. During the 2018 – 2019 school year, I taught a 4th grade class. In this charter school, a student’s behavior record follows them from grade to grade. Previous teachers must report about a student’s behavior and submit that report to the current grade teacher at the beginning of the year. Through this process, a current teacher is supposed to be able to ‘get a good gauge of a child’. Already this is problematic. Children are reduced to their behaviors, many of which are influenced by situations outside of their own control. While I was teaching at this school, most of my students were Hispanic or Black. Let me be clear when I say none of my students were “bad” students, they were just labeled and stereotyped to be so. Students were constantly policed and told to behave in certain ways that made the school feel more like a cage than a place of curiosity, inspiration, and learning. 

The zero-tolerance policy within the network of charter schools I was working at meant that disciplinary procedures were strict and straightforward. It was not up to the teachers to decide what they thought an appropriate consequence would be for certain behaviors. Administration was in charge of this – whether teachers supported the decision or not.  Thus, students in grades a young as Kindergarten were being suspended for up to 3 days at a time for small ‘offenses’ such as not following directions during a lesson. How can we expect students as young as 5 years old to be able to follow directions of keeping their hands locked in their laps and their feet on the ground for several minutes when we as adults sometimes have trouble doing this too? In a 2nd grade class, students were suspended for passing notes. In my own 4th grade class, students were suspended for repeated ‘problem’ behaviors such as speaking badly about other classmates. Although this isn’t something that we want to condone happening in schools as teachers, it is not a behavior that warrants suspension.

Zero tolerance policies that okayed suspensions and expulsions originally started in schools as a response to stop or deter serious behaviors such as engaging in violent activity on school property. Now, however, zero tolerance policies are even being used to address minor issues such as talking back to teachers or coming to school out of uniform. But what does talking back even really mean? I have personally witnessed teachers and administration using this term ‘talking back’ as a misnomer. I have heard it used as a way to get students to comply. Or, can what adults perceive as ‘talking back’ really just be students with curious minds, daring to think and speak outside the box? Students are continually being suspended and/or expelled left and right for these minor ‘offenses.’

The charter school I was teaching in had a demographic of predominately Black and Hispanic children. Research has shown that children of color are disproportionately represented and targeted in regard to disciplinary actions received during school years. In New York City at least, many families choose to send children to charter schools because schools within their zoned districts are undeforming. Why is it that already marginalized groups coming from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds continue to be harmed due to wrongful preconceived notions?

There is an obvious racial disparity in student suspensions and expulsions. Black students of all ages are 23% overrepresented amongst students given out of school suspensions. Whereas white students are 18% underrepresented. Not only do these missed instruction days have a detrimental effect on student learning, but they also bear social consequences.  These zero tolerance policies lead to suspensions and expulsions which in turn lead children to being labeled “problem children” and soon they become “repeat offenders.” Some students are forced to repeat grades due to many missed days which can lead to children dropping out. Other children are forced to report to courts which can in turn, lead them into the juvenile detention system. The racial identities represented within this group of students targeted on the school-to-prison pipeline are disproportionately children of color.

Instead of being so quick to suspend and expel, actions which significantly impact students’ futures, schools should move towards using restorative justice practices only. Restorative justice focuses on “mediation and agreement rather than punishment.” Through restorative justice practices, students would have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes rather than being dealt severe consequences with lasting impacts. Restorative justice practices are centered on building and fostering relationships within communities. These relationships can be formed through things such as conversations, team building exercises, storytelling, and experience sharing to name a few. Other ways restorative justice practices can come to fruition in schools is through share conversation and mediation circles when problems need to be addressed, peer groups, and practices such as meditation. The idea that every action that is deemed ‘bad’ need a similar severe consequence is an issue that restorative justice practices try to remedy. Young people are continuing to develop cognitively, socially, and emotionally all throughout school years. It is unreasonable to expect all students to act in the same ways, which many schools, such as the charter school I worked at, did expect. Restorative justice practices give students a better chance than suspension and expulsion. These practices aim to build relationships and provide opportunities for dialogue. Students would be given the opportunity to take responsibility for their actions and address how those actions might have affected others while participating in agreements to rectify the situation.

As mentioned above, since students of color tend to receive the harshest punishments, this cycle gets perpetuated throughout one’s lifetime. There is an over representation of people of color within our jail systems as well. It is wildly unjust that students of color get labeled as problematic from early on and are forced onto this pipeline from young ages. Restorative justice practices are a way to start to rectify this situation, although it must be the onus of teachers and administrators to implement this effectively.