This petition urges the CCSD to speedily eliminate punitive policies that cause students to enter the criminal justice system. Further we urge these policies be replaced with more restorative practices designed to dismantle the school to prison pipeline.

The presence of school resource officers (SROs) is not the problem, per se. SROs can play an important role in keeping our children safe. The key is that officers must do just that: protect and not criminalize our children. CCSD Administration must keep our children safe by eliminating systemic and punitive discipline policies along with insufficiently trained and biased staff.

We demand that CCSD Board members and policy makers seek alternatives to punitive practices such as creating safety teams or hiring trained staff that know how to de-escalate conflict, including restorative practices coordinators, counselors, and mental health workers. Aggression and violence against students, including pepper spray, physical restraints, and incarceration should be a last resort.

For the past two years, Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement’s End School to Prison Pipeline advocates have worked to bring awareness and facilitate dialogue in our community. Schools are supposed to be places that foster understanding and support—not intimidation and threat of arrest—to help students learn and grow. We can’t cultivate future leaders nor help students meet their true potential by criminalizing student behavior and incarcerating them.

We urge you to read and support AADM’s demands for rethinking school safety. Will you help us?