Why Schools Over-Discipline Children With Disabilities; News Roundup

Every week Reclaiming Futures rounds up the latest news on juvenile justice reform, adolescent substance use treatment, and teen mental health. 

Why Schools Over-Discipline Children With Disabilities (The Atlantic)
As the U.S. Department of Education celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the high rate at which special-needs students are disciplined raises questions about the current state of equal access to services like public education. Some researchers and advocates refer to this issue as "the discipline gap," and data from the Department of Education finds that the disparity increases when race is added.

Mental health issues are disabilities too. It’s time to treat them that way. (MSNBC)
The First Lady of New York City, Chirlane McCray, writes about what the 25th Anniversary of the ADA means to New York, and how, "the work begun by previous generations of New Yorkers is far from complete. It now falls to us to take the baton and address the largest source of disability in the world: mental illness." This fall, the de Blasio administration releases its "mental health roadmap," to set a citywide agenda which addresses gaps and disparities in mental healthcare.

San Francisco High School to Offer First LGBT History Class (Out)
As part of a resolution approved in 2010 to expand support for LGBT students, Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in San Francisco has announced its new college prep course on LGBT history. High-school students will have the opportunity to learn about "the gay rights movement, the AIDS crisis, the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists, and historic events such as the Stonewall Riot and the legalization of same-sex marriage."

First-Ever NCJFCJ Justice Innovation Celebration Held In Austin, Texas (Nevada Business)
Earlier this week, The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) held their inaugural Justice Innovation Celebration at the 78th annual conference, Rethink, Reimagine and Redefine Justice for Children and Families.

More U.S. Children Live In Poverty Now Than During the Recession (TIME)
A new Annie E. Casey Foundation report finds that more than one in five American children, about 22%, lived in poverty in 2013. This is higher than the rate of 18% in 2008, and the report anticipates that child poverty remains "unacceptably high."

Unlocked: An Investigation Into Juvenile Incarceration and its Alternatives (Youth Radio)
"Unlocked" is Youth Radio's newly released three-part investigation of alternatives to juvenile incarceration.  The investigation focuses on understanding how moving away from juvenile incarceration affects youth as well as the system. You can listen to this new audio series here.

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