Report: Zero Tolerance Does More Harm Than Good
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The school district's zero tolerance discipline policy is doing more harm than good, according to a report being released today.
The report says removing rule-breaking students from school by suspension, expulsion, or transfer to alternative school winds up creating what study co-author Jim Freeman of the civil rights organization the Advancement Project calls a school-to-prison pipeline.
"What unfortunately often happens is, that student's outside of class, outside of the school environment, outside of that structured environment. And what unfortunately happens much of the time is that they wind up getting in additional trouble," Freeman said. "Or they wind up being disengaged from that school -- from the adults in that school even more."
The student group Youth United for Change is releasing the report today, and calling on the city and the school district officials to re-think zero tolerance.
Reported by Mike DeNardo, KYW Newsradio
