To: Louisville Municipal School District, School Board and Superintendent
Mississippi Student Bill of Rights - Louisville, MS
We, the students of Louisville Municipal School District call for an immediate adoption of the Mississippi Student Bill of Rights (MS SBR). Students deserve better and the adoption of the MS SBR is necessary to achieve this for all Louisville students.
Why is this important?
Louisville Municipal School District students and parents are calling for the immediate adoption of the Mississippi Student Bill of Rights by their schools. The MS SBR's articulate ten rights that all MS students should have in their schools. For too long our rights have been consistently and routinely violated; this must stop immediately and the protections of MS SBR must be adopted by our schools. Students deserve the right to be treated humanely, with respect, free from discrimination and prejudice as they pursue their education. Students deserve exceptional teachers, administrators, and other staff whose first goal is always the best interest of the students. Students deserve resources and information that will provide us with opportunities to achieve our full potential. The school environment must be a conducive place for learning and achieving, not a place of criminalization and penalization. Students are the future of MS, we should be treated as such if this state is to succeed and prosper. Adopting the MS SBR is a necessary and critical step in achieving all of this for Louisville Municipal School District students.
Mississippi Student Bill of Rights
Educate.Agitate.Organize.
Preamble: Our future depends on our preparation. We’re standing up for a real education. All students regardless of status deserve a free, quality public education; education is a human right. For far too long MS has perpetuated a system full of inequalities and inequities. We demand that those in power recognize these very serious historical and contemporary issues and take immediate actions to rectify them for the best interest of all Mississippi’s students. We will work together to keep our decision makers accountable to those they represent; ensuring a bright, prosperous future for all Mississippians. These 10 points below represent how we can achieve this for all students:
1. Equal Opportunity: Equal quality education must be provided for all of us without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, sex, religion, national origin, or any other category that makes us the unique individuals we are.
2. Real Information: We must have access to real information and knowledge about sex, teen pregnancy, STDs and how these things affect our bodies and communities. Drugs are easier to find than real, accurate medical information about my body.
3. Respect: Treat us as key partners in changing our schools by ending the overly harsh, overly relied on zero-tolerance policies that push youth out of schools into the School to Prison Pipeline. The reliance on police in schools creates a hostile, prison-like environment that takes away our power to positively influence our schools and communities.
4. Safety: Every school must be a safe and supportive place for learning. To create a positive, productive learning environment we must feel comfortable and secure in our schools at all times.
5. The Best Teachers: End the reliance on faulty, inaccurate, and biased standardized testing by investing in us and providing us with the best teachers who inspire quality results in reading, writing, science, art, and music.
6. Tools: Provide us with the resources needed to learn: books, lab supplies, musical instruments, art supplies, computers, and the latest educational technology that will help us be competitive in the 21st century.
7. Leadership: We hold all leaders accountable for vision, courage, and results. We will do this by actively participating and pressuring our leaders to do what is best for us.
8. Extracurriculars: We deserve quality out of school activities to expand our opportunities and skills that give us safe, fun, and enriching places to be when not in school.
9. Starting Younger: We deserve quality pre-Kindergarten education. Kindergarten should be the next step, not the first step, in education.
10. Ready for Life: Our diplomas must not just be a piece of paper. Our leaders must take the necessary steps to ensure that our diplomas mean that we are ready for college, work, and life.
This document was created by MS youth through the
ACLU of MS’s Youth Justice Movement Project
Mississippi Student Bill of Rights
Educate.Agitate.Organize.
Preamble: Our future depends on our preparation. We’re standing up for a real education. All students regardless of status deserve a free, quality public education; education is a human right. For far too long MS has perpetuated a system full of inequalities and inequities. We demand that those in power recognize these very serious historical and contemporary issues and take immediate actions to rectify them for the best interest of all Mississippi’s students. We will work together to keep our decision makers accountable to those they represent; ensuring a bright, prosperous future for all Mississippians. These 10 points below represent how we can achieve this for all students:
1. Equal Opportunity: Equal quality education must be provided for all of us without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, sex, religion, national origin, or any other category that makes us the unique individuals we are.
2. Real Information: We must have access to real information and knowledge about sex, teen pregnancy, STDs and how these things affect our bodies and communities. Drugs are easier to find than real, accurate medical information about my body.
3. Respect: Treat us as key partners in changing our schools by ending the overly harsh, overly relied on zero-tolerance policies that push youth out of schools into the School to Prison Pipeline. The reliance on police in schools creates a hostile, prison-like environment that takes away our power to positively influence our schools and communities.
4. Safety: Every school must be a safe and supportive place for learning. To create a positive, productive learning environment we must feel comfortable and secure in our schools at all times.
5. The Best Teachers: End the reliance on faulty, inaccurate, and biased standardized testing by investing in us and providing us with the best teachers who inspire quality results in reading, writing, science, art, and music.
6. Tools: Provide us with the resources needed to learn: books, lab supplies, musical instruments, art supplies, computers, and the latest educational technology that will help us be competitive in the 21st century.
7. Leadership: We hold all leaders accountable for vision, courage, and results. We will do this by actively participating and pressuring our leaders to do what is best for us.
8. Extracurriculars: We deserve quality out of school activities to expand our opportunities and skills that give us safe, fun, and enriching places to be when not in school.
9. Starting Younger: We deserve quality pre-Kindergarten education. Kindergarten should be the next step, not the first step, in education.
10. Ready for Life: Our diplomas must not just be a piece of paper. Our leaders must take the necessary steps to ensure that our diplomas mean that we are ready for college, work, and life.
This document was created by MS youth through the
ACLU of MS’s Youth Justice Movement Project