Concerned Black Parents and the Zion Youth Advisory Council are hosting the fourth and final Education Summit: The Village Takes Responsibility Part IV Explore the Impact of School Discipline on Academic Achievement and Success--What YOU should know & think about on Saturday, May 8, 2010. Feature presentations begin at 10:00 am with Umar Abdallah-Johnson, school psychologist; Sonja Kerr, civil rights attorney with the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia; Dr Wagner Marseille and Doug Arnold, vice principals at Lower Merion High School; Giovanni Campbell, defense attorney; and Detective Henry of the Lower Merion Police Department. The summit opens at 9:15 with a lite breakfast and is open and free to all who venture out to 92 Greenfield Avenue, Ardmore, PA 19003.
A trip to the office for disciplinary purposes is a step out of the classroom and away from direct instruction, the impact of in- and out-of-school suspensions on academic achievement is great. With that said, imagine the impact on a student who is completely removed from his/her home school and remanded to an alternative school? Worse yet, what does academic achievement look like for a child whose school discipline involves the police and the juvenile justice system?
In an effort to ensure that more African American students are college and career ready rather than tracked off into the pipeline to prison, Concerned Black Parents and the Zion Youth Advisory Council would be remiss to end the 2009-10 school year without tackling this subject as a final summit matter. In fact, even in the wealthy Philadelphia suburban Lower Merion School District at the center of this discussion has a disproportionate number of black and Latino students receiving more stringent discipline than their non-minority peers.
Developing a community "village" centered approach to school disciplinary action and outcomes, supporting youth and schools, and eliminating the tolls of black students thrust into the "juvie" system from school are a few of the areas to be discussed at the summit. The primary focus is on disciplinary action prevention, intervention, and keeping students on a track to academic success and achievement.
Everyone is welcome!
