School-Justice Partnership:
Keeping Kids in School and Out of Court
The Commission is leading two projects to promote school-justice partnerships – an emerging strategy to reduce the number of children entering the justice system by improving educational engagement and outcomes through innovative practices. The first project is the facilitation of a two-year New York City School-Justice Partnership Task Force. The second project is organizing and convening the first National Judicial Leadership Summit on School-Justice Partnerships –scheduled for March 11-13, 2012, in New York City.
New York City School-Justice Partnership Task Force:
Keeping Kids in School and Out of Court
The New York City School-Justice Partnership Task Force is a momentous next step following the 2009 New York City School-Justice Partnership: Keeping Kids in School and Out of Court Symposium, chaired by former Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chair of the Commission, Judith S. Kaye and co-sponsored by the Commission, Skadden Arps and Advocates for Children of New York (AFC). This effort was designed to promote emerging strategies to reduce the number of children entering the New York City justice system by improving educational engagement and outcomes through innovative practices and coordination of efforts.
Recognizing the negative impact of exclusionary school discipline policies and practices on all constituencies – but most importantly on the life outcomes for children, the Commission, with funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies and working with AFC, convened a multi-disciplinary Task Force in June 2011, which includes government officials, outside experts and key stakeholders to study the issue and make recommendations for systemic, attainable reform based on strategies that have been used in New York City, elsewhere in the state and across the nation regarding alternative approaches that hold students accountable for their behavior while keeping them engaged in school. In order to establish recommendations, Task Force members and their representatives participate in three work groups that obtain and review relevant data and information to increase their understanding of issues, policies and practices and report back to the Task Force. These recommendations will consider policies and practices that promote safe, respectful and supportive learning environments; reserve the use of punitive measures – including school suspension and mandatory arrest – for the most egregious cases; and address the over-representation of students receiving special education services and children of color who are exposed to exclusionary school discipline practices that can lead to court involvement.
The final product will be a report of the Task Force’s recommendations that will be released publicly in 2013 and distributed nationwide.
National Judicial Leadership Summit
on School-Justice Partnerships
The National Leadership Summit on School-Justice Partnerships – scheduled for March 11-13, 2012, in New York City – will be a catalyst to promote the development of partnerships among the court system, school administration, law enforcement and the community to work together to increase graduation rates while decreasing school suspensions, expulsions and arrests. With funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies, MacArthur Foundation, Skadden, Arps and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U. S. Department of Justice, Judith S. Kaye, former Chief Judge of the State of New York and Chair of the Commission, will convene this national summit for top state justice and education officials and their partners to raise awareness of the importance of focusing on school-justice partnerships in order to promote practices and policies of our education and justice systems that can help children succeed in school and in turn reduce the number of children involved in the juvenile and adult court systems.
Following the collaborative approach of ground-breaking judicial leadership summits, teams from each state – comprised of the state’s top justice and education officials, a juvenile court judge and an additional representative to be determined by the team – will focus attention on the importance of school-justice partnerships and provide an opportunity to focus on strategies to help students succeed in school and reduce their involvement in the justice system.
The Commission reached out to federal agencies, philanthropies, national organizations and experts in the field to convene a multidisciplinary Partners Planning Committee –including representatives from the American Association of School Administrators; American Bar Association’s Commission on Youth at Risk; Conference of Chief Justices; Conference of State Court Administrators; National Alliance of Pupil Services Organizations; National Association of State Boards of Education; National Center for State Courts; National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; and Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education – to help develop the Summit’s agenda and participate in the peer review process for the Call for Papers. As each of the Partners has a vested interest in promoting practices and policies of our education and justice systems that can reduce the involvement of children in the justice system and help children succeed in school, their collective participation provides a synergistic opportunity to raise awareness of the private and public efforts that are currently underway and develop partnerships to promote shared goals. This venue will highlight the work of the states currently receiving federal and private funding to address school discipline issues.
The Commission is conducting an interdisciplinary Call for Papers. to help inform the work of the Summit. This Call for Papers targets interdisciplinary experts engaged in promoting practices and policies of our education and justice systems that can reduce the involvement of children in the justice system and help children succeed in school including: academics, advocates, counselors, criminal justice experts, educators, legal experts, legislators, judicial leaders, juvenile justice experts, policymakers, program managers, public health specialists, researchers, school leaders and social workers.
Abstracts for the proposed original papers must be submitted electronically by November 15, 2011.
A resulting peer reviewed publication of original papers will be released at the Summit and publicly released to further propel the work of school-justice partnerships across the nation. Presenters for the Summit will be chosen from the authors of the selected papers.
About The Atlantic Philanthropies
The Atlantic Philanthropies are dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people. Atlantic focuses on four critical social problems: Ageing, Children & Youth, Population Health, and Reconciliation & Human Rights. Programmes funded by Atlantic operate in Australia, Bermuda, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Vietnam. To learn more, please visit: www.atlanticphilanthropies.org.
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