United Women in Faith Speaks Against School Discipline Executive Order

For Immediate Release

Contact: press@spotlightpr.org

NEW YORK – United Women in Faith today lamented the administration’s Executive Order, Reinstating Common Sense School Discipline Policies. It released the following statement, which can be attributed to its executive for racial justice, Emily Jones:

“All students should have an equal opportunity to learn. All schools should be safe and conducive for learning. That cannot happen when the school environment is rife with punitive and exclusionary disciplinary practices which disproportionately harm students of color, especially Black students, students with disabilities, and students identifying as LGBTQ+. 

“First: We believe that all children and youth are sacred and deeply beloved by God. Therefore, we believe that every child and young person deserves an education that nurtures their God-given gifts and allows them to learn in an environment free from school pushout and the school-to-prison pipeline. This grounding, we believe, is the faithful ‘common sense’ from which we should all begin.

“Second: Equity — in education and in other aspects of our shared life together — is not an ideological fad but rather a core value for many women of faith all across the United States. It has driven United Women in Faith’s work for many decades, animating our efforts for racial justice and for the uplift of women, children, and youth in the United States and all over the world, and especially driving our work to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. This Executive Order misleadingly conflates ‘equity’ with ‘racial discrimination.’ This is an Orwellian distortion, the exact opposite of the truth. ‘Equity’ is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as ‘fairness or justice in the way people are treated; often, specifically: freedom from disparities in the way people of different races, genders, etc. are treated.’ Prior federal discipline guidance was created in order to move our nation’s educational system to greater equity (a good thing!) and to address well-documented racial disparities in school discipline at all levels, from suspension to school-based arrest. This new Executive Order moves us in the wrong direction, further cementing systemic racism and undoing progress towards our goal of interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline.

“Finally: The recently released executive order is part and parcel of a broader attack on public education in the United States. It is also a continuation of efforts to devalue, debase, and criminalize communities of color. As United Women in Faith, we decry these attacks even as we urge both congress and educational leaders at all levels to do what is right for every child in the nation.”

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United Women in Faith is a sisterhood acting in faith to tackle the hard work of the world without hesitation.