Teachers Talk: School Culture, Safety and Human Rights
Teachers in New York City public schools say that punitive approaches toward children, such as aggressive policing, suspensions and other reactive strategies, undermine the human right to education by failing to address the causes of conflict and criminalizing the school environment, according to a report by Teachers Unite and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI).
In the report, Teachers Talk: School Culture, Safety and Human Rights teachers call for preventive and constructive approaches to discipline that create positive school cultures, teach behavior skills and use conflict resolution. Among the largest threats to safety in schools, teachers cited overcrowding, lack of quality training for teachers, inadequate numbers of guidance counselors and social workers, and the lack of opportunities for teachers, students and parents to influence discipline policies.
Sally Lee, Executive Director of Teachers Unite said, "the observations shared by these teachers are powerful arguments for a new vision of safety in the schools where they work, and powerful indictments of the city's approach to education in general. Youth of color in particular, who make up over 85% of the student population in New York City, are criminalized in schools and denied their right to education by the lack of resources."
