Massachusetts

The small city of Lynn, MA, has become a local hotspot in the national immigration debate. On July 22, dozens of local parents, students and community members rallied on the steps of Lynn City Hall to protest city officials trying to scapegoat young immigrant students for the ails of a long-underfunded school system.

On July 1, Massachusetts took a bold step forward in the national school discipline reform movement when its new Chapter 222 law went into effect. To help advocates in other states learn how they, too, might tackle the school-to-prison pipeline, here’s how our Massachusetts coalition came together, fought hard, and won reform.

There's no doubt that diversity at the front of the classroom is as important as having a diverse student body. But nationally Black men account for only about 2 percent of all public school teachers, and there is little research that explores these teachers’ experiences in schools.

Whether you can get to school shouldn't depend on whether you can afford a subway pass. Students in Boston staged a protest and day-long sit-in at the State Transportation Building to demand youth subway passes.

Students from the Boston Student Advisory Council, Youth and Board, and Boston-area Youth Organizing Project are playing an active role in helping the city select its next superintendent. Hear what they have to say in this great new video!

OTL allies in Massachusetts played a huge role in passing a 2012 law known as Chapter 222 that required schools to provide educational resources to suspended students. Now, these same allies are playing a role in drafting state guidelines to help schools implement the new law.

Following a Town Hall event that was part of the Deceber 9 National Day of Action, student organizers in Boston met with Mayor Marty Walsh to present solutions for improving the city's schools.

Warren Simmons, Executive Director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, has some advice for Boston's Mayor-Elect Marty Walsh: to improve the city's schools, focus on equity and wraparound student supports.

Gina Womack, Executive Director of Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children, is speaking tonight at Wheelock College in Boston about how to end the school-to-prison pipeline.