Lockdown High When the Schoolhouse Becomes a Jailhouse

Since the shootings at Columbine High School a decade ago, hysteria hasdistorted the mediars"s coverage of school violence. This climate of fear hascreated ripe conditions for the imposition of unprecedented restrictionson young peoplers"s rights, dignity and educational freedoms. In what manycall the school-to-prison pipeline, the policing and practices of the juvenilejustice system increasingly infiltrate the schoolhouse. The resultant "Zerotolerance" measures push the most vulnerable and academically needystudents out of the classroom and into harmrs"s way. Investigative reporterAnnette Fuentes visits schools across America and finds metal detectors anddrug tests for aspirin, police profiling of students with no records, arbitraryexpulsions, teachers carrying guns, increased policing and all-seeingelectronic surveillance. She also reveals the many industries and "experts"who have vested interests in perpetuating the Lockdown High model. Hermoving stories will astonish and anger readers, as she makes the case that thepublic schools of the twenty-first century reflect a society with an unhealthyfixation on crime, security and violence.

Annette Fuentes is a freelance writer and reporter. She was a founding online editor of a nonprofit internet news organization, The Bay Citizen, from 2010 to 2011 and prior to that, the managing editor of New American Media, and a reporter for the New York Daily News and New York Newsday. She has taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and has written for, among others publications, the New York Times, The Progressive, and USA Today. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.