In light of the tragedy of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, and countless others murdered by police brutality, we, the District 99 community, recognize that we are not immune to racial discrimination within our district, and it is well past time to demand change. From 2015-2020, Black and Latinx students made up 72% of the arrests on DGS and DGN campus for drug possession, drug use, and fighting, despite making up only approximately 26% of the student population. Black students were especially affected making up about 49% of arrests despite making up only 8.6% of the student population. It is the responsibility of District 99 to maintain a healthy learning environment for all of its students, and that includes teaching adolescents how to control their behavior with age-appropriate positive reinforcements. The inherent bias present in our punitive systems has real consequences and not recognizing that is affecting the course of so many lives. Lives that matter. Black lives that matter.

According to the most recent results from the Illinois Youth Survey which was taken in 2018, as one increases in grade levels, the amount of their peers who have used substances within the last year increases from 36% in 9th grade to 65% in 12th. For alcohol, this ranges from 33% in 9th grade to 62% in the 12th. For tobacco and vape products use this ranges from 27% in 9th grade to 41% in 12th grade. The fact is most teens in the district are using substances. If District 99 wishes to address this, it should be a public health issue and not a criminal justice one.

As it currently stands, District 99’s policy regarding substance use/selling/distribution is vague, discriminatory, and ultimately cruel to the teenagers it punishes. A student caught with possession, use of, or being under the influence of any illegal or controlled substance can face any punishment from a 10-day suspension, referral to Student Assistance Program Coordinator, police consequences and/or arrest. Such a vague system that operates under the discretion of the administrator assessing a student’s case can enable inherent biases against certain (often minority) students. Further, a reduction in suspension for the first offense is available if the student can pay for a substance abuse assessment and ”begins the recommendation for treatment and/or educational program at a district-approved facility within two months.” Having this treatment the expense of the student further discriminates against a student’s personal financial situation. Thus, we believe the following policy should be implemented.

The district must implement accessible student assistance/intervention programs that all offenders, are referred to which recognizes the root causes of drug use and possession.  This includes repeat offenders as we acknowledge the difficulty of changing such behavior at any age but especially during adolescence. Accessibility defined by access indiscriminate of students’ socioeconomic level, citizenship status, racial/ethnic identity, gender, sex, and disability. Positive school and/or community-based services and activities should be integrated within the intervention to increase the student’s sense of community/connectedness. Students referred to such a system should be “provided with harm reduction, counseling, and/or treatment by trained professionals.”

No arrests on campus should be made for student drug use, possession or selling/distributing as the district should be doing everything within its power to keep students within a traditional educational system and positive social environment. No randomly conducted searches on school campuses by police or security personnel should be permitted to occur. Any searches of students that do occur must comply with section H of this model code of the Dignity in School campaign.

This is in recognition that detentions, suspensions, and expulsions are not interventions. They do little to nothing to change the student’s perception of actual behavior being punished and don’t take into account the possibility of addiction. Further, it is in recognition that arrests will remove or pressure students out of the educational system, will have permanent, damaging effects on the student’s future, and don’t make any attempts to facilitate real, long-term behavioral changes from those that they can know and trust within the school.

A positive, restorative justice program/job assistance program for those who sell/distribute must be introduced. Such a program should help students connect with those most impacted by the underground economy and provide students with “real opportunities to repair harm that they have caused their peers, their peers’ families, and the larger community. Such programs can include visits with hospital neonatal wards, emergency rooms, lockups, and morgues, but should focus on healing, harm reduction and accountability as more effective interventions than “scared straight" models which have been proven ineffective.” Further, the district should provide students the opportunity to access school/community-based job training and placement programming to help students find positive sources of income outside of the underground economy.

Lastly, for the sake of posterity, the schools within the district should state a commitment to move towards all policies outlined here by the Dignity in Schools Campaign. These recommendations are being asked of the school in order to make a safe, positive learning environment in which all students, regardless of race and socioeconomic, have the opportunity to thrive and excel.