In 2014, when Kalyb Primm Wiley was 7 years old, 50 pounds, and not even 4 feet tall, he was handcuffed by his school’s law enforcement officer after he cried and yelled in his Kansas City, Missouri, classroom. Kalyb, who is hearing impaired and was teased regularly about it, was reacting to a bullying incident. When the officer took Kalyb out of class and he tried to walk away, the officer handcuffed Kalyb and led him to the principal’s office. Kalyb’s father said his son was left cuffed in a chair until he arrived.
Kalyb was traumatized, and his mother homeschooled him for the next two years. Last year, the ACLU filed a suit against Kansas City Public Schools, as well as the officer and principal involved, accusing them of violating Kalyb’s constitutional rights by “unlawfully restraining” him.
The past 20 years have seen a surge in severe school punishments, including suspensions, arrests, andreferrals to juvenile court. Suspensions start as early as pre-kindergarten, and all punishments disproportionately involve students of color and students with a disability—raising the likelihood that these students will embark on a path to prison, dubbed the “school-to-prison pipeline.”
[For more on this story by MIMI KIRK, go to https://www.citylab.com/equity...son-pipeline/544247/]
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