SIGN NOW: Tell Congress to support the Counseling Not Criminalization Act!

Tell Congress to Support the Counselors Not Criminalization Act

We ALL want schools to be safe but we also must be clear that there is no evidence that increasing the number of police in schools improves school safety. Instead, it takes critical resources from what keeps schools safe and helps ALL kids thrive.

Young people who experience anxiety, depression, and worse, are struggling with mental health challenges, can be incredibly overwhelming for parents and educators to navigate.

School counselors, nurses, social workers, and school psychologists are often the first to see children who are sick, stressed, or traumatized — particularly in low-income school districts.

The benefits of investing in mental health services in schools go above and beyond the immediate support that children and young people get when engaged in these services, these same schools with these services and supports see better attendance rates, better academic achievement, and higher graduation rates as well as lower rates of suspension, expulsion, and other disciplinary incidents.

The Counseling Not Criminalization Act is an important step in shifting resources away from practices that harm and push kids out of school into what helps students thrive, keeps schools safe, and ends the criminalization of kids in schools.

The time is NOW to stand for students and end the regular presence of law enforcement in schools. Sign on!

Dear Representative: Our schools need more counselors, nurses, social workers, and educators who have the training they need to effectively support students NOT more cops. National and local research consistently demonstrates that the presence of police in schools serves as an entry point to the school-to-prison pipeline and disproportionately harms Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students; students with disabilities; and marginalized students. Study after study shows virtually no gains from having police in schools. There are measurable ways to increase school safety that don’t promote the school-to-prison pipeline and have been proven to be successful. Now more than ever young people, and specifically school-aged children, need support. As our country experiences an urgent youth mental health crisis, the data shows that more than one in three high school students said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and one in five students seriously considered suicide. Restorative approaches would include more mental health staff and counselors, social-emotional learning, and trauma-informed care in our schools. School counselors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists are trained to support children, and in schools where these professionals can provide services, we see improved attendance rates, better academic achievement, and higher graduation rates. These same schools also see lower rates of suspension, expulsion, and other disciplinary incidents. The data on this is clear. The presence of school-based mental health providers doesn't just improve outcomes for students but also improves overall school safety. The Counseling Not Criminalization Act is an important step towards shifting resources away from practices that harm and push kids out of school into what helps students thrive, keeps schools safe, and ends the criminalization of kids in schools. We urge you to support the Counseling Not Criminalization Act. We look forward to your response and welcome the opportunity to meet with you in person to discuss these issues further as soon as possible. Respectfully,

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