Schools Are Not Prisons

Schools are not prisons.

Before I continue, I need to belatedly thank my 11th grade English teacher, Annette Arase - who once said, “I’m assigning ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ for you to read, all of it, tonight, and I don’t care how much homework you have in other classes.” Clearly, she was preparing me for similar information inundation of the present day, when our local Board of Education drops a 281 page document, full of massive proposed policy changes, only about 24 hours before the meeting.

The document can be found here: https://files.smartsites.paren...

There was a lot that caught my eye, but the one I will focus on first is this item, listed under the sections of “Actions Leading to Disciplinary Action, including Removal from Class, Suspension and/or Expulsion” and buried on page 208 of the document:

“9. A walk-out from or sit-in within a classroom or school building or school grounds.”

Now, this document was not written by the Brookfield Board of Education, but by the law firm Shipman & Goodwin (as an aside, they are darlings of the big-time developers in Connecticut, in case that matters to you). It appears that this law firm has had a growing hand in crafting education policy and policy handbooks for local Boards of Education (more research needing to be done). It is a law firm whose members include at least one member of the Connecticut General Assembly (and a powerful one at that), the three-term Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter (State Representative in the 1st District - Hartford). There’s a whole other missive that could be written about the ethical implications of when a law firm is getting paid to write policy and has the clout of control over what policy makes it to the floor of the General Assembly, for a vote.

But let’s stay on point.

This new proposed policy lists 41 reasons that a student can be suspended or expelled. The old policy had 18. Even taking into account modern technology, it feels a bit excessive.

Schools are not prisons.

But item number 9, written by a law firm, getting paid by tax dollars…is it that they don’t know, don’t care, or have another agenda entirely? And while I’m not a lawyer (although I did a good job when I had to play one on tv), item number 9…CLEARLY VIOLATES THE CONSTITUTION. And while I know that’s all the rage lately…is that really what we want to do to our kids? If a law firm, and members of the Board of Education are willing to sneak this past the goalkeeper, what else are we not seeing?

Schools are not prisons.

Fact is, walk-outs and sit-ins, as confirmed by the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Louisiana (1966) are confirmed as protected symbolic speech. Freedom of speech is not just the words, but the actions. Even in our own state of CT, the bio for the endorsed candidate for the Democratic Primary for Mayor of Norwalk openly discusses leading “sit-ins and protests in high school and college.”

For the first time, I took the three minutes allotted to me as a generic citizen to speak in front of the Board of Education last night - and I mentioned the above statement. Later on, two of the members of the Board said they read the entire document and nothing caught their eye…

As I knocked doors and spoke with people about our schools during my petitioning to get on the ballot as an Unaffiliated candidate for Board of Education, a repeating theme that came up was that there is this feeling that decisions for school-related matters happen in a culture of secrecy. From sitting in on a meeting last night - the feeling permeates the room.

Admittedly, attending a meeting is weird - at 7:06 I got my three minutes to speak, and then I sat there, silent, for the next two and a half hours, biting through my tongue, and watching this like a really boring Checkovian play - because mostly nothing happened. It felt like every other political meeting I have ever attended - and I don’t mean that in a positive manner.

On one hand, there were only two parents there in the audience. And that falls on us. Parents, it’s time for us to attend meetings so that they no longer fit in the corner of the media center and happen under cover of “well it seems the streaming audio isn’t working well tonight.”

But if I were on the Board of Education and saw the lack of involvement, I’d sure as hell be encouraging parents and students to attend (maybe using whatever app-du-jour we’re using to send a dozen emails to parents a week). And maybe not dropping 281 page documents on the last week of the summer, when even fewer people will be paying attention. And maybe not scheduling an event with candidates for the Superintendent position on the same night as the Brookfield High School open house. And maybe…and maybe…and maybe…

And maybe I would certainly not try to emulate the nonchalance of the member exclaiming at one point “the parents aren’t paying attention…” as if there is a care in the world - because clearly, us not paying attention, is what is wanted.

But again I digress…it’s on-brand for me.

We want our students to be good members of the community, civic-minded, compassionate, and concerned about their peers and neighbors. Or at least our mission statements and grandstanding policies say we do. Yet…

Yet, at every turn it seems we tell our children to sit down, shut up, and…
…and just let the adults have their way and get through the day and…is this the sickness that exists in the “I suffered through school so you have to also” mindset…or can those of us who want things to be better for our kids have a turn? *shrug*

If our children want to organize a walk-out of hundreds of students because they are tired of the racism not being addressed, or the bullying not being addressed (even though the Board of Education made a great policy about it - another strongly worded letter that does nothing), or to address the fear and trauma of friends worried about ICE, or to speak for the voiceless and starving children in Gaza…they not only have the Constitutionally protected right to do so, but should be encouraged.

Yet we’re writing a policy that silently, illegally, and unethically takes that away.

Schools are not prisons.

Adults who don’t care tend to solve problems by taking things away (cellphones were the start, protected rights are on the agenda) and locking down our children for seven hours a day. Nobody learns in such an environment. Just like nobody learns when they are hungry - from not having access to meals, to our Middle School students having 15 minutes for lunch (which violates state law).

The ability to breathe, to communicate with friends, to not feel as if they are imprisoned seven hours a day…might do more to change kids’ mindset about school than you would imagine.

Or, to put it another way…have you seen our Board of Education, it’s no wonder our children are bored of education…

The irony of course, is that in the current Policy Handbook, students do have the right to protest. Section 5145a (which is not slated for removal) reads:

“Freedom of Expression - It is the intention of the board of education to promote the dissemination of diverse viewpoints and to foster discussion of all political and social issues. Students shall have the right to advocate change of any law, policy or regulation. Students may exercise their right to freedom of expression through speech, assembly, petition, and other lawful means.”

So, we literally have, in typeface, the image of rights being taken away.

The lack of civics being taught in school is disheartening. Not one side of the aisle or the other, (although both sides are inherently the same even if they’d rather fight about it) but a simple discourse on how our local government works - because in this state there’s at least half a dozen ways government is structured and people don’t get involved because it is confusing, and difficult, and based in forcing people to read 281 page documents in less than 24 hours. And it’s not right - for students or adults.

But regardless, part of government is airing grievances - whether it is listening to students when they are being bullied, or listening to parents when they realize that learning does not happen under penalty and threat of endless consequence. We need to do better. We need to remember that what we are doing is FOR THE KIDZ and us being stupid adults does them no favors and we have to learn (the irony of this being a Board of Education issue) that we must LEARN to BE and DO BETTER.

We could start by not dropping 281 page documents the day before a meeting, so that it at least feels as if the voices of the students, and their parents, were at least of interest to the Board. And then, once it is clear we have members of the Board who have an actual and not performative interest in input, we could work on feeling as if those voices matter. Another irony - just to the left of the U-shaped table at which the members of the Board of Education preside, in big letters on the wall, it says COLLABORATE. It’s meant as a message to high school students but…maybe the adults need a refresher. Is anybody paying attention to the signs?

Parents, it is time to sit in on these meetings, and refuse to walk out on our kids. The next meeting is 7pm on Wednesday September 3rd. I’ll see you there.

ALSO: If you are at all horrified by the idea that this item is headed for an approval by our Board of Education, our kids need all of us parents to (and kids can also be doing these things also):
1) Write to the Board of Education at: boe@brookfieldps.org
2) Tell other Brookfield residents this is happening
3) Show up at the upcoming meetings and speak during the public speaking portion - you can say a lot in three minutes while (literally) watching the sands fall through the hourglass for these are the days of our childrens’ lives…

School are not prisons. And in an age when putting our school policies in the hands of others is what sells, only our words, and our actions, sit-ins and walk-outs included, are the keys to the cells.

Moorash Unaffiliated
For Board of Education
Vote Row C on Election Day

#BrookfieldCT #BrookfieldForTheKidz #MoorashUnaffiliated #BrookfieldBOE #Whisconier #CLES #BrookfieldHighSchoolCT #ChangeTheWorld