Immigration
California Dreamers say ‘We can’t wait,’ as they plead for Congressional action
In the Golden State’s agricultural heartland, they want Majority leader Kevin McCarthy, other GOP members to step up
Staff
Biography
Susan Ferriss is a reporter with wide experience at home and abroad. She has investigated a range of issues, from military toxic waste and real-estate fraud to police corruption and international drug trafficking. She covered California state government and politics for several years, and was a prize-winning foreign correspondent in Latin America, where her reports included stories on child labor, child migration and transnational gangs.
Articles
Education
Get up, stand up: California’s search for education equity
In California, a unique new formula provides extra dollars for poor districts based on how many disadvantaged students they have, and encourages local decision-making and experimentation on how to reach and teach these kids.
Education
Virginia drops felony charges against sixth-grade boy with autism
A Virginia juvenile court has dropped charges against Kayleb Moon-Robinson, a sixth-grader with autism whose rough arrest on felony charges was the focus of a Center for Public Integrity investigation into questionable school policing.
Criminal Justice
How kicking a trash can became criminal for a 6th-grader
An analysis by the Center for Public Integrity raises questions about what kind of incidents at school merit police or court intervention and provides fodder for a debate over whether children are getting pushed into a so-called “school-to-prison pipeline” unnecessarily and unjustly.
Criminal Justice
The school-to-court pipeline: Where does your state rank?
U.S. Department of Education data shows that in most states, black, Latino and special-needs students get referred to police and courts disproportionately.
Education
Throwaway kids: Disciplined California teens struggle to school themselves
Seventh-grader Erick Araujo, 13, of Lost Hills, Calif., was expelled from his middle school last semester and sent to an alternative county-run school 38 miles away. Because of the distance, Erick is on an independent study program and sees a teacher one day a week. Reading and answering questions in this history text was the
Criminal Justice
School discipline reform groups question plans for armed security
Los Angeles police Sgt. Frank Preciado and Officer Wendy Reyes watch children arriving at Main Street Elementary School. Los Angeles schools reopened after winter break with tighter security after the shootings in Newtown, Conn.Nick Ut/Associated Press As the White House considers proposals to allocate federal money for armed guards in schools, prominent school discipline reform