Community Rights Campaign confronts over-policing in schools

Ratio of citations per black student to citations per white student for the most recent three school years

Students, parents and teachers rallied at Martin Luther King Blvd. and Vermont Ave. near Manual Arts High School last week to discuss over-policing in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Today, the newly-formed LAUSD Progressive Discipline and Safety Committee will hold a public meeting from 4 to 6 p.m. to continue the conversation.

The Labor/Community Strategy Center organized the Oct. 30 rally as part of its Community Rights Campaign. Its goal? To put an “end to punitive and exclusionary policies and practices that criminalize our students and contribute to devastating graduation rates and education outcomes for students of color,” according to a press release.

The organization is specifically referring to the citation and arrest policies of LAUSD and Los Angeles Schools Police Department.

Speakers addressed the crowd about their experiences with ticketing in schools.

According to the group’s report, Latino students were twice as likely as White students to get ticketed in the 2012-2013 school year. Black students were six times more likely to get ticketed than White students.

The rally came after a year of attempting to reform the district’s policies.

“We recognize the leadership of several LAUSD officials and LASPD Chief Steve Zimmerman have been critical to the on-going community engagement to change the culture of our schools,” the center wrote in its press release.

Today’s LAUSD meeting of the Progressive Discipline and Safety Committee is open to the public and will be held at the LAUSD board room.