Discipline Code Hearing: Jamaal’s Story
by Teachers Unite member Jamaal A. Bowman, Founding Principal, Cornerstone Academy for Social Action Middle School
Who gets suspended from our schools? Poor black and Latino boys—and girls too—beginning as young as three years old in disproportionate rates all over the country. Who are the unarmed men that are disproportionately killed by the police? Black and Latino youth. Black lives matter not only in the streets when dealing with law enforcement, but in our schools as well.
I think the adjustments to the discipline code are a step in the right direction. I would also like to see B21, so called “insubordination” removed as a suspendable offense. Unfortunately in many of our schools, there is a huge disconnect between school staff and the students they serve. Many educators don’t understand poverty, don’t understand the politics of urbanization, and don’t treat our most at-risk population with the care they deserve.
We must remember that we are dealing with children. Not animals and thugs as the media too often depicts black and Latino youth to be. Our children our children carry trauma from growing up in neighborhoods with concentrated povertyand limited resources, and they carry that trauma with them into our schools. We can’t continue to respond bycriminalizing their behavior.
In my school, I have a social worker and guidance counselor on staff to support our restorative justice model and the social emotional needs of our students. We work very hard to build excellent relationships with parents and provide wrap around services to families. If there is an issue we can’t handle, we find a community resource that can.
Further, the city and teacher training programs need to do more to prepare our teachers to meet the social emotional needs of our students and we need an influx of guidance counselors and social workers and restorative justice coordinators into our system. School staff can begin right now by taking ownership. Start by reading Lisa Delpit’s Other People’s Children, and listen to Tupac’s Keep Your Head Up. Working to close the class and social gaps takes lifelong learning and understanding. I look forward to our continued work in this area.