A former school social worker and current MST supervisor reflects on harsh school discipline policies feeding the school-to-prison pipeline
“It is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunities of an education.” Chief Justice Earl Warren, 1954
I was a special-education school social worker and school social-work clinical supervisor in the Educational Achievement Authority (EAA) schools. These are the “lowest performing” Detroit public schools and were taken over by a governor-appointed emergency manager in 2011. As a Multisystemic Therapy (MST) supervisor and former MST therapist, I have dealt with keeping youth in school.
While schools have complex challenges, one of the most frustrating aspects I observed was the detrimental discipline policies.
