End Missouri's School-to-Prison Pipeline

Missouri schools disproportionately punish students of color and students with disabilities. Students with in-school behaviors met with harsher, more frequent discipline have a greater likelihood of finding themselves caught up in the criminal justice system as they grow up, which is known as the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

The school-to-prison pipeline is flourishing in Missouri. We must disrupt it.

Missouri now has the 10th highest gap between Black and White K-12 students in the nation when it comes to out-of-school suspensions, according to federal data from the 2015-2016 school year. Black students are now five times more likely than their White peers to receive an out-of-school suspension. This is unjust. It must change.

Sign our petition to take action.

Let’s get to work.

I pledge to take action to break the school to prison pipeline in Missouri.

I will read my school's discipline policy and flag concerns I have for the district regarding vague or discriminatory language, I will request a KYR workshop from the ACLU to learn more about what my community can do to ensure equitable discipline, and I will speak out at my local school board to let my community know how this issue effects our students.

Justice doesn’t stop at the schoolhouse door. Missouri’s schools can do better.