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Thursday, January 17, 2013

School Discipline Report Highlights Tension Between Safety, Civil Rights

School Discipline Report Highlights Tension Between Safety, Civil Rights:


School Discipline Report Highlights Tension Between Safety, Civil Rights

In Holmes County, Miss., a sheriff's car once picked up 5-year-old. The crime? Wearing shoes with red-and-white symbols, an apparent school dress code violation.

In DeSoto County, Miss., cops reportedly arrested and threatened six students for arguing on a school bus.

The examples of what advocates are calling Mississippi's extreme discipline problem are part of a reportreleased Thursday by the Advancement Project, a civil rights group. The report, "Handcuffs on Success: The Extreme School Discipline Crisis in Mississippi Public Schools," outlines how the practice of arresting, suspending and expelling young students for minor infractions -- known as "zero-tolerance policies" -- create a school-to-prison pipeline. The report says the practice has left the state with the country's sixth lowest