This post originally appeared on Dignity in School Website

Last month, I had the privilege of being part of a group of students, parents, and advocates that filed a civil rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) asserting that the school policing policies and practices of the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), Wake County Sheriff’s Department, and eight local police departments contribute to a massive school-to-prison pipeline and violate the constitutional and civil rights of African-American students and students with disabilities. Among the complainants were Dignity in Schools and two of its member organizations: Education Justice Alliance (EJA) and North Carolina Heroes Emerging Among Teens (NC HEAT). On the same day that we filed the Complaint, a WCPSS school board member reprimanded me via email.

Last month, I had the privilege of being part of a group of students, parents, and advocates that filed a civil rights Complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) asserting that the school policing policies and practices of the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), Wake County Sheriff’s Department, and eight local police departments contribute to a massive school-to-prison pipeline and violate the constitutional and civil rights of African-American students and students with disabilities. Among the complainants were Dignity in Schools and two of its member organizations: Education Justice Alliance (EJA) and North Carolina Heroes Emerging Among Teens (NC HEAT). On the same day that we filed the Complaint, a WCPSS school board member reprimanded me via email.

Apparently, the board member is “extremely disappointed” and “extremely saddened” by the Complaint, which the board member claims “undermine[s] the very important work that I, other Board members, and the staff are doing” and is “not at all helpful.” Implicit in the board member’s email is that the complaint is untimely (i.e., we should’ve given the district more time to fix the problems) and unwise (i.e., the Complaint was a bad idea).

The board member’s email made me think of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” which was a response to clergymen who called his activities in Birmingham “unwise and untimely” and urged him to give new city administrators time to act on segregation and racial injustice. I thought of the letter not because I compare myself to Dr. King, of course, but because the board member reminded me of the clergymen.

The board member sounded the same message – “Wait!” – as the clergymen in 1963, and as the lawmakers who vowed to act with “all deliberate speed” following Brown v. Board of Education. But, as Dr. King wrote, “This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never’” and “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

Exactly how long were Wake County students, parents, and advocates supposed to wait? The Civil Rights Act has been around since 1964. Disability discrimination protections have been in place for over 30 years. School resource offices (SROs) have been patrolling WCPSS schools without proper training, limitations, and accountability for over a decade. How many more students of color and students with disabilities must be subjected to intimidation, harassment, excessive force, illegal searches and interrogations, and arrests and court referrals for minor misbehavior? How many students must needlessly fall prey to the school-to-prison pipeline before comprehensive, systemic change happens?

At enormous financial costs, the WCPSS has over 60 SROs, over 60 private security guards, nine of its own Security Department staff, off-duty law enforcement officers paid to patrol special events, and an unknown number of non-SRO law enforcement officers who conduct “official business” on campus. Despite repeated requests from advocates, there are no comprehensive agreements or policies governing school policing, including detailing required qualifications and training, clarifying the roles of security personnel, and establishing protocols for use of force and limits on arrests and court referrals. Also missing is a comprehensive array of positive alternatives to arrests and court referrals (e.g., restorative justice, community service, and mandatory counseling).

Consequently, security personnel routinely handle minor misbehavior that should be treated as teachable moments. Over 40 percent of all delinquency complaints in the county are school-based. Worse yet, North Carolina is the only state that treats all 16- and 17-year-olds as adults when they’re charged with criminal offenses and then denies them the ability to appeal for return to the juvenile system. Neither WCPSS nor the law enforcement agencies bother to maintain data on school-based arrests and complaints against these students who are sent directly into the adult criminal system.

These policies, or lack thereof, and practices have a discriminatory disparate impact on African-American students and students with disabilities. For example, in 2011-12, African-American students were 24.7 percent of the total student population, but received 74.3 percent of the school-based delinquency complaints.

The Complaint comes on the heels of recent school discipline guidance from the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice that reads, in part:

Schools cannot divest themselves of responsibility for the nondiscriminatory administration of school safety measures and student discipline by relying on school resource officers, school district police officers, contract or private security companies, security guards or other contractors, or law enforcement personnel. To the contrary, the Departments may hold schools accountable for discriminatory actions taken by such parties.

The board member is not alone. There’s a dangerous mentality held by many in Wake County, including other board members, that is similar to the “white moderate” who Dr. King declared to be more of a stumbling block toward freedom for African-Americans than the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner. Dr. King described the “white moderate” as one:

who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another [person]’s freedom

For the past four years, students, parents, and advocates pleaded with WCPSS officials to reform their school policing policies and practices. We’ve filed grievances and internal affairs complaints; published fact sheetsissue briefsreports, letters to the editor, and op-eds; met with school district staff, superintendents, and board members; and volunteered to serve on committees. We’ve asked for a new task force – like the successful collaboratives in Clayton County, Georgia and Jefferson County, Alabama – that focuses specifically on issues of school policing, and thus, can move swiftly on the issue. Our pleas have mostly fallen on deaf ears.

In his letter, Dr. King wrote: “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and [people] are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair …. Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever.” Now is that time in Wake County. The district and law enforcement agencies left us with no choice but to file the Complaint.

The board member went on to declare in the email that the Complaint “reduces the ability to reasonably invite you to the table” and that “by choosing to pursue a lawsuit approach, you have isolated yourself from the conversation[.]” It’s past time for sitting around tables that aren’t accessible, welcoming, and representative of those most impacted by the pipeline; past time for begging for holistic reform only to be thrown crumbs of compassion; past time for indulging education policymakers who think their conversation is the conversation; past time for our policymakers to join our table and our conversation.

Despite years of frustration and current confrontational positioning, there’s reason to be hopeful. The district is full of teachers, counselors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and administrators who don’t want young people treated like criminals and who wish they had the tools and resources necessary to manage behavior more effectively. There’s reason to have faith in DOJ following its recently issued guidance. With pressure from advocates and involvement of DOJ, the WCPSS and local law enforcement agencies will hopefully join in helping to ensure that our schools are not only safe but also welcoming, nurturing, and loving environments where students are treated fairly and with dignity.

For media coverage of the complaint, visit: ABC 11Al Jazeera AmericaHuffington PostNews & Observer; NC Policy Watch;WNCNWRAL; and WUNC.

Jason Langberg is a supervising attorney at Advocates for Children’s Services, a statewide project of Legal Aid of North Carolina.