Addressing Community Concerns about School Violence and the Harsh Consequences for Marginalized Kids

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: Marriott St. Louis Grand

Room: Majestic C

Floor: Second Floor, Conference Plaza

School violence, including gun violence in schools, is omnipresent in our minds: we hear about school shootings and about threats that result in school closures. These events generate crucial conversations about how we can reduce and prevent gun violence. School violence occurs in the context of a society with easy access to guns and systemic factors that fuel gun violence, not only in schools but across the board. Another set of important conversations - though ones that may be less commonly held - is how schools, the police, and prosecutors are responding to potential school threats and violence and what the impact of these practices is on young people, many of whom were already marginalized educationally and at risk of being pushed into the school-to-prison pipeline. Each panelist will address the session theme from their area of expertise: gun violence prevention; school discipline and juvenile court systems. We will then facilitate a collaborative discussion that seeks to generate ideas for the reduction of gun violence that is attentive to the disproportionate impact of school and juvenile policies on low-income children, children with disabilities, and children of color; and also that seeks to draw attention and shift current policies and practices in schools and prosecutors offices. We welcome you to this conversation of people with different experiences and hope to foster a more nuanced and complex inquiry and dialogue about school violence and threats and its impact on all students.