Ep. 78: Defund School Resource Officers
EQ: To what extent do schools need SROs?
Guest: Megan Holyoke, Lincoln HS Teacher and shit-talker extraordinaire. Previous guest on IWL Episode 29 “Striking While Female”
We begin this episode by voicing our current thoughts on the #defundthepolice and #abolishthepolice moments. Listeners can rest assured that this discussion is not about any one officer but about systems. American policing is rooted in slavery and is now an integral mechanism in our public schools. To be clear, calling for a removal of police from schools is an explicit disruption to the school to prison pipeline. We are asking that the money spent on district partnerships with local police be used to fund social services such as counselors, nurses, social workers, etc. We continue to circle around the notion that white people continue to make excuses and uphold oppressive systems such as policing because they are afraid.
List of Resources Referenced:
The Trace: Do Armed Guards Prevent School Shootings
Ed Weekly Which Students Are Arrested the Most
At the Intersection Podcast, Episode 33: The Normalization of America’s Police State
Champagne & Real Pain:
🥂Restorative Justice Work
🥂Minneapolis Public Schools Terminates Contract with Police Department
👎🏻White people who refuse to understand George Floyd protests
👎🏻People so set in their fear they can’t hear or listen to others
Do Your Fudging Homework:
Annie: Rewatch 13th documentary
Hope: Read some of the links above; listen or read Stamped from the Beginning
Megan: Before you go outward, go inward to examine why you are so defensive
Ep. 31: Not Data Without Stories, Not Stories Without Data
EQ: Why is the work of the ACLU in the Washington important and relevant in 2018?
Guest: Vanessa Torres Hernandez, Youth Policy Director at American Civil Liberties Union of Washington. Nerd Farmer Guest Ep 27
The formidable and fabulous Vanessa Torres Hernandez joins us to talk about the intersection of education and the law. Vanessa shares the story of her early life in Guam, the culture shock of American college life, and her years as a teacher.
Highlights include:
We need to pay more attention to school safety issues in Washington School Safety. Many instinctive responses to school shootings are wrong and not research based. We need more preventative resources.
There is an absurd amount of racial bias in school suspensions and other forms of discipline
We need to question and re-imagine the role of law enforcement in schools
The importance of stories with data and data with stories in improving school safety - it can’t just be about numbers or feelings, we have to examine both
Learn more about the Every Student Counts Alliance (ESCA), a new collaboration between organizations and individuals in Spokane working to end the overuse of suspension and expulsion in Spokane Public Schools and to eliminate disparities in rates of suspension and expulsion of students of color and students with disabilities.
Read more about WA state laws on suspension, including HB 1541 and Adopted Student Discipline Rules
Guilty Favesies
Hope: candles, especially if they’re on sale at Target
Annie: single-serving lunch snacks
Vanessa: celebrity gossip magazines
Do Your Fudging Homework:
Hope: What do you think about … Can the ACLU Become the NRA for the Left?
Vanessa: Attend Adult Civics HH; Flights and Rights (ACLU) in Seattle; issue oriented civic engagement--most important
Annie: clued in to what’s happening in legislature! Sign up for legislators emails