Feeding the School to Prison Pipeline

The Unintended Consequences of Virtual Schooling

In Spring 2021, frustrated by the slow and recalcitrant New York City Schools reopening plan, which, for most of the ‘20/’21 year left most public school middle and high schoolers doing “Zoom in a Room,” masked, distanced and separated from teachers, we organized a lawsuit to reopen NYC public schools fully, in-person, five-days-a-week, with teachers in every classroom. We were so lucky to retain Jim Mermigis, NYC’s “Anti-Shutdown Lawyer,” and collected compelling evidence arguing that school is safe and essential, from respected infectious disease doctors, education and mental health experts. Among those experts was Maryland-based clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Jessica Hasson, who testified that school closures were fueling the school to prison pipeline. In the wake of the post-shutdown mental health emergency our nation’s children now face, we invited Dr. Hasson to expand on her testimony. Here is her report.

Best,

Natalya & Dana

“The prolonged school closures and limited availability of in-person education had a significant impact on our nation’s children. Much of the focus has been on the “learning loss” and increases in mental health conditions in children and adolescents. There is no doubt that the educational and social deprivation that resulted from prolonged school building closures will continue to impact even the most resilient children.

However, these are not the only impacts on our nation’s children. The prolonged school building closures, coupled with the decrease in access to prosocial mentors and special education services, has also resulted in an increase in the number of students getting arrested and entering the juvenile justice system. Students were pushed out of classrooms. Some ended up entering the juvenile justice system.

Dr. Jessica Hasson

In other words, the school closures fed the school to prison pipeline. 

The school to prison pipeline is the school policies that results in students leaving school and entering the justice system. The focus has been on dismantling the more direct link between the two, including identifying ways to reduce arrests on campus. To do this, school districts across the United States are attempting to dismantle the school to prison pipeline via decreasing the presence of police in schools (e.g., Montgomery County, Maryland).  While this may have some impact on the students being arrested on school grounds, this does not address the underlying, more indirect factors that predispose children to enter the pipeline.

In fact, the pipeline starts well before the arrest on school grounds; it starts as soon as an at-risk child enters a school building for the first time. One of the most significant risk factors for entering the juvenile justice system is school failure and dropping out. Relatedly, many of those involved in the juvenile justice system have unmet special education needs. In my own experience as a forensic psychologist, I see a number of students who have disengaged with school because they are not receiving the assistance they need. Some of these children have ADHD that was misclassified as a “behavioral difficulty” and treated as such. Others have dyslexia, dyscalculia, or dysgraphia and have not been correctly identified, meaning they have not had access to the services they need.

Still others were identified but not receiving the level of services they need. In the past two years, many of the juveniles involved with the juvenile justice system I evaluated expressed they were unable to access classes during the pandemic because they no longer had their 1:1 available, had no one to ask questions to, or their internet access was inconsistent, even with the district-provided hotspot. Less access to a quality education is a risk factor for the pipeline. 

In other words, the pandemic-related disruptions to in-person schooling increased the risk that students would disengage with school, which is a risk factor for entering the school to prison pipeline. 

Remote schooling, building closures, hybrid learning, and reduced access to teachers during the pandemic all negatively impacted our students in countless ways. This is having a more significant impact on our students who were most vulnerable to entering the school to prison pipeline. These students were denied access to the prosocial mentors they have in school counselors, principals, teachers, and the countless other staff that serve as protective factors for them. Students were not being engaged in the ways they need. Zoom was simply a reminder that these people were no longer easily accessible. In some cases, students returned to school buildings only to do “Zoom in a Room” or “Zoom School” where the students were physically in the  building but their teachers “Zoomed in” from another room in the building or their residences. 

The message sent to the students was clear: You are not important enough for me to be in the room with you. 

At the start of the pandemic, there was conjecture that there could be an increase in juvenile arrests. This is no longer conjecture. Juvenile arrests were declining prior to the pandemic. However, across the United States we are seeing an increase in the rates of juvenile arrests that were attributed to the decreased time spent in the classroom. Some of these juveniles have been charged as adults, which could result in a conviction being on their record, officially solidifying their entrance in the criminal justice system.  

Our students need consistent access to the prosocial adults in their life – all of them. This includes their teachers. They also need access to an education, an education that serves as a protective factor against criminal offending. Our students deserve every chance they have to succeed. Education offers them that chance.

The denial of their right to in-person education with teachers in every classroom, only served to exacerbate the educational gap and foster the school to prison pipeline.”

Dr. Jessica Hasson received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. She completed her predoctoral internship at the Superior Court of DC Child Guidance Clinic, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Office of Forensic Services at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville, Maryland. Prior to joining Quince Orchard Psychotherapy as the Assessment Director, Dr. Hasson was a core faculty member in the doctoral program at the American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, Northern Virginia, where she taught doctoral level courses on psychological assessment.

Follow her at @drhasson2