Please call your Legislators in Harrisburg to oppose the current language of SB 56!  This Bill will require school administrators to call the police to report certain student behavior regardless of the age, disability or understanding of the child.   We believe this Bill will (a) feed the school to prison pipeline; (b) traumatize children unnecessarily; (c) not make schools safer.  Several advocacy groups have proposed amendments to eliminate mandatory reporting. Please tell your Legislator you do support the Child Advocate Amendments to SB 56 sent Monday April 27 to the Senate, but that you do not support the bill as it currently stands.  Copies of the bill with proposed amendments (proposed by a coalition of child advocacy groups), and a sample letter utilized by the coalition sent to Senators are attached.

You can use these talking points when discussing the bill:

 *   We need a common-sense approach to school discipline. That means schools should have discretion in what they report to the police—especially regarding children with disabilities or young children.

 *   This bill will REQUIRE schools to call the police even when the school thinks it’s inappropriate.

 *   The needless and excessive use of police in schools is not a good use of law enforcement resources and does not make schools safer.

 *   Criminalizing children is not the answer to safer schools.

 *   Effective interventions such as School Wide Positive Behavior Support create a safe school and a better learning environment.  Let’s invest in prevention instead of more police presence in schools.

Please call your Senators today and express your opposition to this bill – so long as it includes mandatory reporting to the police. The Bill has passed the Senate Education Committee and is now in Appropriations.  Click here for a list of the Senators and their contact information: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/senators_alpha.cfm. Click here for a list of the Senators on the Appropriations Committee: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/cteeInfo/cteeInfo.cfm?cde=5&body=S.