By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
A 12-year-old Montgomery County student was being sent to the hallway for being disruptive in class. On her way out the door, she brushed up against her teacher. The student was suspended for 10 days for attacking an employee.
"A lot of places where we're doing work, the school districts and courts and police are coming together around the realization that they've got to stop criminalizing children," she said. "Unfortunately, it seems like the folks in Meridian haven't gotten that memo, yet."
"We're seeing across the country an increase in more serious consequences for students for what was considered to be traditional disciplinary matters," said Judith Browne Dianis, who has done work with the school-to-prison pipeline since 1999 through the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization.
