By Pam Hightower, Tallahassee Democrat
School districts across the United States are being forced to deal with systemic issues that have consistently impacted our country. One of the outcomes of the historic injustices in our nation has been the school-to-prison pipeline. The school-to-prison pipeline characterizes school districts' failure to prevent the funneling of students — especially students of color, students with disabilities and LGBTQ students — into the criminal justice system.
Considering our long-standing concerns with juveniles, it is clear that Leon County Schools must get more involved and partner with social service agencies and community stakeholders to employ out of the box strategies that strengthen our community and mitigate this problem.
In a letter addressed to Leon County Schools in 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida noted that Leon County's school arrest rate was significantly higher than the state average. Additionally, students in Leon County schools were arrested nearly twice as often as the state average for first-time non-serious misdemeanors.
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