To: Jackson Public School Board of Trustees
Students for the MS Student Bill of Rights
We, the students of Jackson Public Schools, call for the immediate adoption of the Mississippi Student Bill of Rights. Students deserve better, and the adoption of the MS SBR is necessary to achieve this for all JPS students.
Why is this important?
Jackson Public School 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 who's 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 JPS students.
Mississippi Student Bill of Rights
PREAMBLE: We, the students of Mississippi, in order to have the greatest chances for success, have defined ten critical areas that will prepare us for our future. We commit to engaging our school, community, and state leaders on these issues so that – together – we can create a better Mississippi for all.
1. Equal Opportunity: We must be treated equally regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. We must have full funding for public education and access to healthcare. Equal, quality education and healthcare must be provided for all of us.
2. Safety: Every school must be a safe and supportive place for learning. Police in our schools should protect us from harm and not be misused to enforce zero tolerance policies against us. Find alternatives to the harsh overuse of zero tolerance policies that do not criminalize typical student behavior. Educate us don’t incarcerate us.
3. Sex Education: We deserve access to medically accurate, comprehensive information about sex, teen pregnancy, and STD/Is and how these things affect our bodies and communities. It is hard to find comprehensive information about our bodies because curriculums like Abstinence Only/Plus are not sufficient.
4. Respect: Treat us as key partners in changing our schools by ending the overly harsh disciplinary practices and policies that push youth into the School to Prison Pipeline. The reliance on this creates a prison-like environment that takes away our power to positively influence our schools and communities. Educate us through positive behavior methods and alternatives to suspensions, expulsions, and arrests.
5. The Best Teachers: We deserve accurate, fair, and non-biased standardized testing by investing in alternatives that teach us and not just test us. Provide us with the best, most highly qualified teachers who inspire quality results in reading, writing, science, math, art, history 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 encouraging our leaders to do what is best for us; nothing about us without us.
8. Extracurriculars: We deserve out of school activities to expand our opportunities and skills that give us safe, fun, and enriching places to be when not in school and opportunities for quality employment.
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 diploma means that we’re ready for college, work, and life.
This document was created by MS youth through the ACLU of MS’s Youth Justice Project
Mississippi Student Bill of Rights
PREAMBLE: We, the students of Mississippi, in order to have the greatest chances for success, have defined ten critical areas that will prepare us for our future. We commit to engaging our school, community, and state leaders on these issues so that – together – we can create a better Mississippi for all.
1. Equal Opportunity: We must be treated equally regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. We must have full funding for public education and access to healthcare. Equal, quality education and healthcare must be provided for all of us.
2. Safety: Every school must be a safe and supportive place for learning. Police in our schools should protect us from harm and not be misused to enforce zero tolerance policies against us. Find alternatives to the harsh overuse of zero tolerance policies that do not criminalize typical student behavior. Educate us don’t incarcerate us.
3. Sex Education: We deserve access to medically accurate, comprehensive information about sex, teen pregnancy, and STD/Is and how these things affect our bodies and communities. It is hard to find comprehensive information about our bodies because curriculums like Abstinence Only/Plus are not sufficient.
4. Respect: Treat us as key partners in changing our schools by ending the overly harsh disciplinary practices and policies that push youth into the School to Prison Pipeline. The reliance on this creates a prison-like environment that takes away our power to positively influence our schools and communities. Educate us through positive behavior methods and alternatives to suspensions, expulsions, and arrests.
5. The Best Teachers: We deserve accurate, fair, and non-biased standardized testing by investing in alternatives that teach us and not just test us. Provide us with the best, most highly qualified teachers who inspire quality results in reading, writing, science, math, art, history 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 encouraging our leaders to do what is best for us; nothing about us without us.
8. Extracurriculars: We deserve out of school activities to expand our opportunities and skills that give us safe, fun, and enriching places to be when not in school and opportunities for quality employment.
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 diploma means that we’re ready for college, work, and life.
This document was created by MS youth through the ACLU of MS’s Youth Justice Project