On Friday, December 8, 2017, the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) and NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) attended the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) briefing entitled, The School-to-Prison Pipeline: The Intersections of Students of Color with Disabilities. It is an independent, bipartisan, fact-finding federal agency charged with enhancing the development and enforcement of national civil rights policies and laws. USCCR consists of eight Commissioners and was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The briefing is part of a USCCR  investigation to examine school districts’ compliance with federal laws designed to ensure the safety of students of color with disabilities against discrimination.

The commissioners first heard from invited researchers and policy advocates, some with lived experiences, who presented information from different perspectives about the topic. Among the invited stakeholders was Dan Losen, who has worked alongside DSC members for a long time, as well as facilitated training on data analysis for our Parent Leadership Institute participants, was among the researchers providing testimony. Dan Losen stated that school safety includes being emotionally safe in schools. Rebecca Cokley, former Executive Director of National Council on Disability, referred to the justice system as the “incarcerate system”. Others who also provided testimony that we’ve worked with previously on various federal policy changes during the Obama administration include Anurima Bhargava, former Chief of Educational Opportunities Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Kristen Harper, former Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education; and Eve Hill, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice.

Gwinnett SToPP’s Executive Director along with several DSC parents and a student testified about their experience during the first ever in-person open comment period. Several teachers traveled to D.C. to either share how more restorative discipline practices are starting to work and to share why they wanted harsher treatment children during the discipline process. The rules required speakers for the open comment period to be present and be their own experience. Written comments were being accepted from those who were not able to travel. Unfortunately, Commissioner Peter N. Kirsanow felt the need to circumvent the rules that everyone followed.  Commissioner Kirsanow utilized his persons appeared to be staff/assistants to read absent persons’ testimony that was laced with rhetoric and racist stereotypes about black people. Commissioner Karen K. Narasaki vehemently objected to allowing the testimony upon the staff person being seated to testify, citing that all there followed the rules and traveled across the country in order to participate within the parameters of the rules. Vice Chair Patricia Timmons-Goodson and Commissioner Debo P. Adegbile joined the objection. Chair Catherine E. Lhamon after listening to the objection, decided to allow them to proceed. Commissioner Narasaki left the room, presumably in protest, returning upon the completion of wrongful testimony.

You can watch the recorded hearing at http://bit.ly/2DHs33W, but the open comment section is not included. For more background, the agenda and a list of all invited stakeholders visit http://bit.ly/2CUOfY0. You can read our written testimony at http://bit.ly/2niNBZU.