End the School to Jail Track

Campaign Image for front page: 

The School to Jail Track is the result of zero tolerance, harsh disciplinary practices that overuses suspensions, expulsions and police tickets, disproportianally affecting students of color, and pushing them out of school and into the juvenile justice system.The School to Jail Track prevents students from receiving a high quality education that prepares them for college and instead puts them on the track to prison.

First, a Little History...

In collaboration with the Advancement Project, in 2005 we released Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track, a report that exposed the effects of Denver's punitive discipline policy on youth and the resulting racial disparities. This launched Padres & Jovenes Unidos into an organizing campaign to reform Denver Public Schools (DPS) discipline policy. In August 2008, we won historic new discipline policy aimed at ending racial disparities in DPS and keeping students in school and learning. This was a big step in the right direction for the District and a critical component of our overall education reform work.

Since the passage of the discipline policy in 2008, youth have been working to keep Denver Public Schools accountable for implementation and educating their peers on their rights under the new policy.

As we continued our organizing to End the School to Jail Track in Denver, we elevated our campaign to state-level work. In September 2010, Jovenes Unidos successfully organized a youth conference where over 120 people attended to launch our End the School to Jail Track in Colorado campaign.

Today, our campaign to End the School to Jail Track has two, simultaneous branches, the legislative camapaign at the state-level and the accountability campaign in Denver Public Schools. Click on the following links to read about our campaigns in more detail:

1. End the School to Jail Track in Colorado - Books Not Bars!

2. Holding Denver Public Schools' Feet to the Fire!