DC Lawyers for Youth seeks to improve the DC juvenile justice system by advocating for reforms that promote positive youth development, effective legal representation, and supportive relationships between the community and DC’s youth. As part of that work, DC Lawyers for Youth participates in Every Student Every Day, a coalition addressing educational disengagement and other challenges contributing to students entering the juvenile justice system. Alex Peerman, the organization’s policy and advocate associate, joined the Education Town Hall on June 12 to discuss these efforts.
Peerman noted that a recent report, submitted in reference to legislative mandate on attendance accountability by DC’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education, supports study and conclusions earlier published by the Every Student Every Day Coalition. Peerman spoke about how the city’s “most vulnerable students, those who most need to be in school” — including students in special education, those under the care of Children and Family Services, and those experiencing homelessness — are generally hardest hit by suspensions and expulsions.
Here’s OSSE’s 2014 Discipline Report.
Here’s the June 2013 Coalition report.
See also the Student Rights Alliance, another member of the coalition, highlighted on our October 2013 program.
Listen to the full recording, Track 3, here:
Education Town Hall Forum 