Summary

Discussing solutions to stem school to prison pipeline

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Members of the Metropolitan King County Council will be joined by their counterparts on the Seattle City Council for a special discussion that will focus on the challenges of meeting the educational needs of youth of color as a step to help reduce their numbers in the regional criminal justice system:

King County Councilmember Larry Gossett and Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien will co-host the special forum with:

• County Councilmembers Joe McDermott and Rod Dembowski,
• City Councilmembers Nick Licata and Kshama Sawant.

“Our youth, especially youth of color, must traverse difficult times in our society. We must equip them with critical thinking skills through offering them a multicultural education through a social justice lens,” said Gossett. “This is a necessity if we want them to become leaders in changing our society to one that is inclusive and benefits all people. We hope we as leaders in King County can be open to the ideas and concerns we hear at this town hall.”

“One of the most important things we can do for racial justice in Seattle and King County is to break the school-to-prison pipeline,” said O’Brien. “We need new approaches to school discipline that keep students in the classroom where they can continue to learn and grow.”

The councilmembers will be joined by panelist that will participate in a roundtable discussion on steps that need to be take on a local and county level to ensure that students of color are receiving the multicultural education and relevant services needed to keep them in school and out of the school-to-prison pipeline.

One of the most accurate predictors of adult criminal justice involvement are suspensions and expulsion while in school. South Seattle schools have higher rates than other parts of the city, and South King County school districts rank as high, or higher in some cases, than Seattle Public Schools. African American and other students of color are grossly overrepresented in those numbers.

This forum is an opportunity for the public to hear from and discuss with their elected officials as well as members of the Seattle School Board on the challenges and efforts to reduce those rates. That includes efforts by both the county and city to reduce disproportionality in both schools and the justice system.