The Zero Tolerance policy in our New York City schools has been instrumental in pushing our children out of the classroom, into the juvenile justice system, and the criminal justice system. The policy has disproportionately targeted students of color and students with disabilities. The Zero Tolerance policy  has not been proven to make our school environment safer. Students have been known to get suspended and arrested for minor infractions such as; skipping school, talking back to school personnel, writing on their desk and coming to school out of uniform.  https://supportiveschooldiscipline.org/

There are 1,866 schools within the DOE as of September 2019, including 260 charter schools. There are also 1,126,501 students in the NYC school system, the largest school district in the United States.

Of those students:

72.8 percent are economically disadvantaged
Race or ethnicity:
40.6 percent Hispanic
25.5 percent black

Research has found that minority students are suspended three times more than White students (Payne & Welch, 2010). Gregory and colleagues (2016) cite a study (Fabelo et al., 2011) from one Texas district that found Black students
were 26.2 percent more likely than White students to receive out-of-school suspension for their first offense (9.9 percent). In comparison with students who are otherwise similar, students who are suspended are more at risk for poor attendance, inability to progress to the next grade, failure to graduate, and subsequent involvement in the juvenile and adult justice systems (Osher, Bear, Sprague,& Doyle, 2010; Skiba et al., 2014)

According to the  D.O.E. social worker report of 2019 there is a disproportionate number of guidance counselors and social workers to students. The report indicated that there are 2,881 full time guidance counselors as well as 1,320 are full time social workers. They have been known to rotate between different schools in the city. The guidance counselor and social worker to student ratio in each school is 1:333  (all schools) and 1:216 Schools (high school grades)

However, New York City schools currently has over 5,000 safety officers policing our children. 

The largest school system in the United States deserves more counselors, more social workers, more nurses not more police officers. Our students deserve the opportunity to learn and utilize restorative justice practices that can assist them in managing their feelings, feel a sense of belonging and understand accountability. Our students deserve to experience school personnel, such as teachers, principals and social workers that are trained to use effective, less punitive ways to manage disciplinary infractions. 

Implementing restorative justice practices in our schools has proven to keep students engaged in school, have a high participation in school activities, decreased drop out rates and increased graduation rates. We need our children in the classroom not in jails. 

The 14th Amendment and Article 26 of The Universal Declaration Human Rights puts forth that everyone has a right to education. Lets protect our children's right to an education free of discrimination, criminalization of trauma and help build a more tolerant healthy community. 

Please sign our petition, to ensure All schools in NYC eliminate the Zero Tolerance Policy and Implement effective Restorative Justices Practices across all grades.