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. Swipe stations have become a discretionary system that seems to punish the same students repeatedly with little to no behavioral intervention.

Whether it’s the fact that it’s enabled inherent bias or that it’s ineffective as an intervention system, most often the same Black and Latinx students are continually punished and lose faith in the school system. Further, buses that serve students in higher density housing, which have larger concentrations of Black and Latinx students, are often overcrowded to the point of being a safety hazard. This imposes another unjust barrier upon those unable to go to school feeling respected. And finally, parking passes are merit-based in such a way that enables discrimination. Using extracurricular activities and leadership as a criterion can discriminate against those who have to work to support their families and factors like prior high school attendance and discipline ignore the fact that previous impediments to transportation can affect both. Thus, we believe the following should be considered and implemented.

Pathways to report ineffectiveness/dangerous situations on the buses, even if just an extension of the anonymous alerts system, should be clearly explained to the students. Auditing of buses which previously had reports of overcrowding/ unsafe environments during historically high-volume times of the year (beginning of the year, before breaks and holidays, late starts, early dismissals, etc) should be conducted with clear recommendations for future reforms for the school to undertake should any issues be found should be published on the district’s website for easy access.

A system to distribute parking passes that aren’t dependent on disciplinary infractions, GPA, previous attendance records, and other factors that could reflect previous inaccessibility of the transportation system and/or are irrelevant to accessing a student’s need for a parking pass should be proposed, reviewed by staff, students, and parents and implemented in a timely manner. This reflects a student’s right to education and their right to accessible, reasonable, and fair means to get to those educational institutions.

A positive intervention system should be implemented for tardiness. Students should be deferred to hold meetings with teachers, school counselors, therapists, and/or others in the student support system to address the root causes of their tardiness/absenteeism. These meetings should focus on encouraging new behaviors and connections within the school system with a secondary focus on how-to restore harm that was done through their disruptions to the classroom environment, peers, and teaching staff. These should not serve to punish students for their disinterest/distrust/lack of faith within the educational system but potentially put them in conversation with those who can help guide them to healthily channel any complaints they may have to make changes where they are needed/wanted. Detentions should be recognized as being ineffective in deterring this behavior.

All efforts should be made to keep students in a traditional classroom environment unless they pose a real, credible threat to themselves or others. Thus all efforts should be made to avoid truancy and chronic absence. Should truancy occur, follow-ups with the student and student’s family should be administered. Efforts should be made to recommend positive interventions and community involvement programs. Truancy tickets should be wholly avoided and discouraged as the primary source of intervention to avoid giving students distrust of the adults in the school, a criminal record that can affect their access to high education, and undermine other efforts to correct the behavior. Should state/national officers be involved, positive recommendations of intervention or service should be recommended by the district/school officials to serve as an alternative to the student being exposed to ticketing, prolonged juvenile detention, and/or having to face the juvenile court system. Expulsion should never be recommended in response to truancy and chronic absenteeism.

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.