OUR PLATFORM

Schools Not Jails is an organization predicated upon ending the school-to-prison pipeline. That means, first and foremost, we support the abolition of School Resource Officers. Not their reform, not their renaming — their abolition. However, we acknowledge that in order to achieve this overarching goal, we must in turn fight against other obstacles that are related to the School-to-Prison pipeline. In understanding this intersectionality of issues, we take pride in our strong youth-led wing of the organization as well as our numerous partnerships with outside organizations. Below you can find our core tenants of what we seek to establish.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE FOR ALL

Students must be given the ability to learn and grow rather than be beaten down by the state and treated as full adults. Therefore restorative justice for all, but particularly minors, is of the essence in how we move forward surrounding criminal justice.

A prohibition of stationing armed police on school grounds.
Implement exceptions for minors in most criminal sentencing laws.
Codify simplified Miranda rights for minors nationwide and expand protections for minors in criminal immunity.
Waive qualified immunity on matters surrounding 4th or 6th Amendment violations of minors.
Provide tax credits to municipalities for implementing public defense programs molded for minors.

COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY WITHIN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Without the ability of the entirety of our communities to hold our education system accountable, we will fail to achieve and sustain a proper learning environment for our youth.

Elected student positions on all school boards. These positions must grant students proper representation with an ability to influence the policy that will directly impact themselves. In the case of preexisting student-based school board positions, the number of positions must be tied to student enrollment by grade.
Elected school board commissioner positions for adults. No school board members should be appointed or elected by committee.
Establishing a system of vetting to recruit working-class people to seek elected office to school boards, school administrative offices, local county judgeships, sheriffs, etc.
School board systems must have recall structures for the community to execute.

YOUTH RESOURCES WITHIN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Students must be supported inside their schools as they must be outside them, with the opportunity to institute a check on administrative structures and take care of themselves and their peers.

We must have federally recognized 250:1 student-counselor ratios and student-social-worker ratios, 700:1 student-psychologist ratios, 750:1 student-nurse ratios, with proper weight being granted to disproportionately troubled schools.
Pay-rise for multilingual or ESOL counselors.
Pay-rise for counselors in underserved communities in line with hardship post policies.
Tax-credits to municipalities and states that successfully incentivize the hiring of more counselors and trauma-informed staff.

SUPPORTIVE EDUCATION

Just as youth must be provided with resources and tools within their schools, the education process must be streamlined to accommodate both teachers and students who do the heavy lifting in our nation's public schools.

Rolling back of no child left behind.
Abolition of high-stakes standardized testing.
Accommodation of students who are absent from school to issue public testimony either before local or state policymaking committees to waive unexcused absences and offer service learning hours.

RIGHT TO CONTRACT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

As the education system must be changed inside and out, young people must too be given the tools to contract for their labor in their communities and organize with their peers, regardless of age, for better work and wages.

Calling for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to investigate the legality of union-busting efforts happening at Starbucks and other companies, and for the NLRB to file suit against illegal activities in open cases regarding SWBU.
Ending components of the United States Code that are deferential to Right-to-Work, such as 29 U.S.C. §164, a reworking of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and the re-implementation of Glass-Steagall.
Making it easier, and recognized in US labor law, for young people and minors to organize unions and contract alongside existing unions.
Abolition of the federal Youth Minimum Wage (YMW) and the recognition of minors as laborers who retain the full rights and protections of adults.
Passage and institution of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act).

Google Sites

Report abuse