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Tyler Whittenberg

Chief Counsel, Justice System Reform
tyler@scsj.org

Tyler Whittenberg joined Southern Coalition for Social Justice in 2020 to lead the Justice System Reform program. Prior to joining South Coalition for Social Justice, Tyler was Deputy Director of Advancement Project’s Ending the Schoolhouse-to-Jailhouse Track project. In this role, he supported grassroots campaigns led by youth of color fighting to end the criminalization of Black and Brown students and create learning environments that are reflective of the world they envision for themselves.

Tyler’s entire career has been dedicated to ending the school-to-prison pipeline and dismantling oppressive structures systematically imposed upon Black and Brown youth. He began his career as an 8th grade social studies teacher in Columbia, South Carolina. He then received a masters degree in Politics and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, focusing on school-to-prison pipeline issues and the growing effort to privatize public education. Tyler subsequently advocated for students’ rights as an Education Policy Fellow with the North Carolina Justice Center’s Education Law Project.

Tyler graduated from Tulane University Law School after completing an Ella Baker Fellowship with the Center for Constitutional Rights. Throughout law school, he co-directed Stand Up for Each Other (SUFEO)—a student-led organization representing youth who were suspended and expelled from public schools in New Orleans. For these efforts, Tyler was awarded the Louisiana State Bar Association’s 2014 Student Pro Bono Award. Tyler also advocated for the rights of youth in the justice and foster care systems as a Staff Attorney with the Youth Law Center and helped jurisdictions throughout the U.S. reduce racial and ethnic disparities in youth-serving systems while a Site Manager with the W. Haywood Burns Institute.

Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Partnering with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the south to defend and advance their political, social and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing and communications.

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Education Justice Alliance, Students from Enloe High School, and SCSJ Demand that the Wake County School Board End the School Resource Officer Program and Terminate Contracts with Local Law Enforcement Agencies

Durham, N.C.— Jasmin Loraine Benas, Srivani Edupuganti, Teya Franks, and Reagan Razon of Enloe High School, in partnership with Education Justice Alliance (EJA) and Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), sent a demand letter to the Wake County Board of Education urging the immediate end of all school policing contracts with local law enforcement agencies and greater investments in alternatives to school policing. This termination demand is in response to both Raleigh Police Department’s violent use of force against peaceful protesters following the death of George Floyd and Wake County Public School System’s school policing practices that disproportionately harm Black and Brown students.

June 11, 2020 by Staff Focus Area: Justice System Reform, Youth Justice Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2020

For media inquiries:
Imadé Borha
Communications Advocate, SCSJ
imade@scsj.org
919-323-3380 ext. 128 (office)
336-920-9101 (cell)


Letha Muhammad
Director, EJA
letha@ejanc.org
(919) 614-3952 (cell)

Durham, N.C.— Jasmin Loraine Benas, Srivani Edupuganti, Teya Franks, and Reagan Razon of Enloe High School, in partnership with Education Justice Alliance (EJA) and Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), sent a demand letter to the Wake County Board of Education urging the immediate end of all school policing contracts with local law enforcement agencies and greater investments in alternatives to school policing. This termination demand is in response to both Raleigh Police Department’s violent use of force against peaceful protesters following the death of George Floyd and Wake County Public School System’s school policing practices that disproportionately harm Black and Brown students.

In a letter sent to Wake County Board of Education Chair Keith Sutton, SCSJ and their partners ask for the removal of more than 70 school resource officers in the Wake County Public Schools System (WCPSS). The letter cites that school policing plays a role in Black students receiving 73% of school-related delinquency complaints during the 2018-2019 school year despite only representing 22% of the student population.

Enloe High School students Benas, Edupuganti, Franks, and Razon created a petition demanding the removal of all Wake County school resource officers that has received almost 2,500 signatures to date. These high school students believe the Raleigh Police Department should not be allowed to bring their abusive practices from the streets into the classroom.

The demand letter references the Minneapolis Board of Education’s landmark decision to have police-free schools as an example Wake County should follow. The Enloe High School students, along with SCSJ and EJA, urge the Wake County Board of Education to redirect funds currently spent on policing students to preventative programs and alternatives to criminalization. These investments include: fully staffed, school-wide restorative justice initiatives; community peacebuilders; social workers; physical and mental healthcare professionals; and other resources to support families and community members.

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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Twitter and Facebook.

The Education Justice Alliance (EJA) is a group of concerned individuals in Wake County working for a reduction in the number of public school students pushed off the academic track through unfair suspensions, harsh discipline policies, academic failure and school policing. For more information, visit their website at eja-nc.com and their Facebook page.

Key Contact

Tyler Whittenberg, Chief Counsel, Justice System Reform
tyler@scsj.org

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