|
April
29, 2002
Zero
Tolerance Is Topic of Law Conference
CHICAGO
--- Educators, teachers, students, parents and children’s advocates
from around the country will come together Saturday, May 11, at
Northwestern University School of Law for a conference titled "Dreams
Deferred: A Closer Look at School Discipline."
Co-sponsored
by the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University
School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic, the conference will take
place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the School of Law, Thorne Auditorium,
375 East Chicago Ave.
"The
conference will examine how we handle discipline in our schools
at a time when schools are suspending and expelling record numbers
of students and often criminalizing typical youth behavior,"
said Bernardine Dohrn, director of the Children and Family Justice
Center.
Conference
participants include Pedro Noguera, professor, Harvard University’s
Graduate School of Education (speaking on "Finding Safety Where
We Least Expect It"); Frank Tobin, former teacher at the Nancy
B. Jefferson School at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention
Center; Judith Browne, civil rights attorney with The Advancement
Project, Washington D.C.; Russell Skiba, faculty researcher, Indiana
Education Policy Center; and Jennifer Morales, first elected Latina
member of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors.
Laura
Washington, former editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter
and columnist with the Chicago Sun-Times, and Linda Lenz, editor
and publisher of Catalyst Magazine, will moderate two panels discussions
on school discipline and its issues.
Several
conference participants were contributing authors to a recently
published anthology of essays, "Zero Tolerance: Resisting the
Drive for Punishment in Our Schools" (New Press, $17.95). Dohrn
is a co-editor of the book.
In
addition to the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern
University School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic, the conference’s
sponsors include the Center for Youth and Society at the University
of Illinois at Chicago; Leadership for Quality Education; Generation
Y at the Southwest Youth Collaborative; Young Chicago Authors; Writing
Teachers Collective; Guild Complex and Chicago School Leadership
Cooperative.
The
public is welcome to attend the conference at $15 for each adult
and $7 for students who register before May 1. Afterwards, registration
will be $20 for an adult and $10 for students. The fee includes
continental breakfast, lunch and a free copy of the book.
For
more information, contact Toni Curtis at (312) 503-0396.
|