Bob Graham Center for Public Service

This event took place on November 16, a recording is available here.

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The school-to-prison pipeline imposes harsh disciplinary practices on primarily Black and Latino students to push them out of school and into the criminal justice system. It remains one of the most glaring civil rights abuses of the 21st century.

In Florida, school officials, police officers, and prosecutors have many tools at their disposal to surveil, arrest, and incarcerate public school students. Even with the pandemic challenges, schoolchildren have found themselves banished to Zoom detentions, arrested for failing to complete homework assignments, or handcuffed by police officers patrolling hallways.   

Join us Tuesday, November 16, at 6 pm, for Juvenile Injustice in Florida: Tackling the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Student advocates and a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist will analyze the punitive and exclusionary discipline that schoolchildren across America face, their historical antecedents, and the  obstacles unique to Florida students. Panelists will also discuss how communities can dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline and implement more restorative policies that would benefit students in need of educational support. 

Panel members include:

	Dr. David Canton Dr. David Canton is Director of African American Studies Program and Associate Professor of History at the University of Florida. He graduated with a B.A. in History from Morehouse College, received his M.A. in Black Studies from The Ohio State University and PhD in history from Temple University. His articles and essays have appeared in Western Journal of Black Studies, Pennsylvania History, Journal of Civil and Human Rights, Reviews in American History, and Journal of Urban History.
	Kathleen McGrory Kathleen McGrory is the deputy editor for investigations at the Tampa Bay Times. She writes and edits stories that shed light on wrongdoing. Her work has exposed a previously unreported spike in the number of child gun injuries, traced the origins of a fatal power-plant accident and uncovered mistakes at a prestigious children’s hospital. McGrory and Neil Bedi won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting for their investigation into a Florida police agency that harassed families and profiled schoolchildren ("Targeted"). McGrory holds degrees from Hamilton College and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
	David Meltsner David Meltsner is a doctoral candidate in the UF History Department and a Graham Center Graduate Dissertation Completion Fellow. Meltsner’s research integrates disciplines such as political science, legal studies, sociology and criminology to examine the origins of the school-to-prison-pipeline — the combination of institutional factors that have converged to push primarily Black and Latino students out of school and into the criminal justice system. His particular area of focus is New York City from 1968 to 1980, when public schools decentralized and accelerated integration programs. Meltsner received a B.A. in history from Binghamton University and explored the struggle for voting rights in the Jim Crow South in master’s thesis.
	Michelle Morton Michelle Morton is Research Coordinator and Policy Counsel for the ACLU of Florida. She joined the ACLU in 2017 as Juvenile Justice Policy Coordinator, working toward policies to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. Before joining ACLU of Florida, she served as a staff director of the Florida House of Representatives Select Committee on Gaming, advising state lawmakers on gambling law and tribal gaming issues, and held attorney and legislative analyst roles in Florida House regulatory affairs committees and the Florida Senate Majority Office. Michelle holds a J.D. from Florida State University College of Law with additional graduate coursework in social work at the Florida State University College of Social Work.

The event will be moderated by Dr. David Canton, director of the African American Studies program at the University of Florida.

Register now.