We’ve got another day packed with events part of the Week of Action Against School Pushout. There are at least seven events being hosted by our members, and this evening we are having a virtual event – Making Light Work: National Parent Listening Session at 7pm est/6pm cst/5pm mst/4pm pst.
Our main demand for today is: End paddling and other forms of physical punishment in all schools.
There are three events in California today. Coleman Advocates in San Francisco’s event is called It Takes A Village and will take place at 6:00pm PT. They will host an interview series highlighting the experiences of students, families, and community partners who envision systemic change & wraparound safety in their schools. They uplift voices of the community because school police do not lead to safety, relationships and resources do. It takes a village to keep us safe! Meanwhile, Dolores Huerta Foundation will host Youth Speak: Reimagining School Safety at 6:00pm PT as well, where youth will have a panel to talk to Vecinos, parents and community members about what school safety really means to them, and to call to action for prop 15 and to defund school police. In addition, the ACLU of Southern California will be representing DSC at the California Association of School Counselors conference where they will will hold Counselors Not Cops conversations for the rest of the week.
In Richmond, Virginia Council on LGBTQ+ will host Counselors Not Cops: Equity for Youth Now at 6:30-8:30 pm ET, a virtual event featuring a poetry workshop and panel discussing youth equity, the school to prison pipeline and LGBTQ+ stats in regard to education and health disparities. Senator McClellan and Congressman McEachin have been invited to comment on state and federal legislation. The first 25 registrants will receive a swag bag including a GLSEN bag, Dignity in Schools T-shirt, button and various other items. Co-Hosts: Podium Foundation and GLSEN Richmond. Watch this Facebook page for updates and to register.
Also in the south, Fannie Lou Hamer Center of Eupora, Mississippi is having a virtual Teach-in and Live Action School Board Meeting around Counselor Not Cops. October 8th and Oct 10th
And finally there are two events on the east coast today. In New York YaYa Network will share their Redefining Safety: Metal Detectors Workshop at 5:00-6:00pm ET. 100,000+ NYC middle and high school students walk through airport-style security every day. Metal detectors are disproportionately located in schools with mostly Black and Latinx students. YA YA Network hosts this session unpacking the relationship between scanning and safety, and invites you to join student activist leaders in making interventions in the school security paradigm. Register: http://bit.ly/NoScanners. In New Jersey, Statewide Education Organizing Committee will host a virtual teach-in.