Alliance Alert: Please consider signing on to this very important letter and campaign courtesy of our friends at Families Together.
As you may know, the Solutions Not Suspensions NY Coalition is a statewide movement of advocates, attorneys, educators, parents and students working to reduce the New York school system’s over-reliance on suspensions and exclusionary discipline while promoting a safer, more supportive school climate. To accomplish this, New York State must pass the Solutions Not Suspensions Act S.134 (Jackson)/A.118 (Solages) this legislative session. \Help us demonstrate the broad range of support this bill has. Please sign-on to our letter to the Senate and Assembly calling for the Act’s passage this year and encourage other organizations in your networks to do the same.
Sign-on here: https://forms.gle/y9XRyrBedZHtqPGJ7. Please do so no later than Friday, May 2nd.
Why you should sign on:
Across New York during the 2023-2024 school year, 137,511 students were suspended at least once – including 8,331 children in grades Pre-K to 3. This equates to 957,934 school days lost to suspension. This loss of learning impacts marginalized students at disproportionate rates. Black and Latinx students were up to 5x more likely to be suspended than white students. Students with disabilities were up to 5x more likely to be suspended than their peers. Additionally, economically disadvantaged students were up to 4.5x more likely to be suspended than their peers. Similar disparities apply to youth in foster care and LGBTQ+ students.
Yet, the research shows that suspensions do not make schools safer nor help students learn from their mistakes.
There is a better way. Solutions to student behavior that do not exclude young people are happening in school districts across New York State. In fact, many other states across the country have already passed laws to amend their school discipline policies to shorten the length of suspensions, apply age limits for younger learners, and more. And in 2022, the New York State Education Department issued a task force report with recommendations to address the overall rates of suspensions through practice and policy change that mirror the goals of the bill. With efforts to promote equity and inclusion under attack, now is the time to prove that New York State stands by its commitment to those values.
Sincerely,
The Solutions Not Suspensions NY Coalition
In Partnership,
Brad Hansen
Public Policy Director
Families Together in New York State, Inc.
518.432.0333 x28
bhansen@ftnys.org
www.ftnys.org
“Empowering Families, Coordinating Systems”
