Kids who skip or are ousted from school for bad behavior are at risk of dropping out and entering the “school to prison pipeline.”
Efforts to find solutions to school truancy —a nd keep kids from lives of crime — received a boost at the recent “Michigan Leadership Summit on School-Justice Partnerships: Keeping Kids in School and Out of the Justice System.”
With the theme of “Justice. School. For All,” the September summit focused on ways to keep young people in school.
“When we increase school attendance, when we lower truancy and absenteeism, and when we see fewer kids on the street, it improves the quality of life for all of us,” said Gov Rick Snyder in remarks prepared for the gathering.
“We will see fewer adults behind bars, fewer people in need of public assistance, and a safer, better educated, and more prosperous Michigan as a result.”
Midland County Probate Court Judge Dorene S. Allen served as chair of the summit.
“Anyone who works in the juvenile justice system knows that kids who are suspended or expelled are much more likely to drop out altogether,” she said. “And when kids drop out of school, the likelihood that they’ll become involved in some kind of criminal activity increases dramatically.”
The phenomenon is so common, Allen said, “it’s come to be known as the ‘school to prison pipeline.’ The statistics are chilling: of Michigan prisoners, 49 percent do not have a high school degree or GED.”
The two-day summit, convened in Ann Arbor, involved a wide array of experts on juvenile justice and truancy: juvenile judges, intermediate school district superintendents, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and community mental health workers.
Seventy-three county teams heard from national and state speakers, Snyder, state Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly, Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan and Department of Education Superintendent Mike Flanagan. State Supreme Court Justice Bridget M. McCormack also attended.
Allen said school “Zero Tolerance” policies, which mandate suspending or expelling students, often have unintended consequences.
“When children are expelled or suspended, they disproportionately end up in the criminal justice system,” the judge said.
The county teams worked on their own solutions, using data and information from the summit presenters.
“There was an extraordinary level of collaboration within the county teams and throughout the state,” Allen said. “This is the first step of a three-year implementation of truancy priorities. In Michigan, it is clear that we have to keep kids in school and out of the judicial system: we need to stop the School to Prison pipeline.”
Agencies involved in the summit included the Governor’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice, Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency, the State Court Administrative Office and the state Departments of Community Health, Education and Human Services.
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