Every week at All Saints Church we put our faith into action. This week our focus is ending unnecessary Police Interaction in Schools by supporting the passage of SB 1273.

Decades of research show that even minimal interaction with law enforcement in an adversarial context causes long-term harm to young people. And yet, California law mandates that educators call the police on students for certain behavior, denying educators the flexibility to decide how to handle each situation and exposing students of color to unnecessary contact with police.

These mandates were first instituted in the 1990s, as a result of “tough on crime” rhetoric that had racist undertones, which has led to Black, Indigenous, and students of color being pushed out of school and denied their right to an education.

The impact of these laws falls most heavily on students of color and students with disabilities. For students who are Black, Latinx, of color, and those with disabilities, the consequences of police being called are severe: they are more likely than white students to be cited or arrested. And calling the police on students can have life-long consequences: students who are impacted by the legal system are less likely to graduate high school, and more likely to be pushed into the school to prison pipeline.

SB 1273 empowers educators, protects students, and restores educator discretion by:

• Eliminating state mandates for school notification of law enforcement, thereby empowering schools to adopt non-punitive, supportive, trauma-informed and health-based approaches to school related behaviors.
• Increasing educator discretion in determining when to notify law enforcement about a student’s school related behaviors.
• Eliminating prosecution of school staff who fail to report incidents of alleged assaults or physical threats against school employees.
• Eliminating the criminal penalty for students for the “willful disturbance” of public schools and public school meetings.

We need to restore flexibility to educators so they can decide when law enforcement should be notified. Please ask your state assemblymember to vote YES on SB 1273!

Options to Take Action:

1. Sign the Action Letters at the Action Table outside the church on Sunday morning.
2. Download pdf copies of the Action Letters that you can sign and mail (find your assemblymember here).
   Action Letter to Members of California State Assembly
3. Link to ACLU action supporting SB 1273 to End Unnecessary Police Interaction In Schools
   

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If you ever need to look up your member of the U.S. House of Representatives or your U.S. Senators check here: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.

To find contact information for your California State Senator or California State Assemblymember check here: www.senate.ca.gov and www.assembly.ca.gov.