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Youth

All young people must have the opportunity to meaningfully participate in our society.  The ACLU Youth Policy project seeks to ensure that young people – particularly those who have been historically excluded or underserved – receive meaningful education and services in communities, instead of being pushed to a juvenile justice system that will undermine their ability to be successful as adults.  Our current focus is on reforming school discipline policies and practices, working to limit school-based referrals to the juvenile justice system, and decreasing the over-reliance on jails and prisons for young people in the juvenile and adult criminal law systems.

Resources

News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court this fall will hear the appeal of a ruling that upheld the Seattle School District’s use of race as factor in assigning students to schools. The ACLU of Washington will file a brief in the case, supporting the district’s policy as a way to prevent racial segregation.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
The ACLU-WA and Kent School District in November reached an out-of-court settlement in the lawsuit filed by former student Mark Iversen. Iversen filed suit against the school district in 1997, alleging it did not respond adequately to incidents of harassment based on his perceived sexual orientation.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
Okanogan County has paid a settlement of $35,000 to a young woman for subjecting her to an illegal strip search at the county's juvenile detention facility in 1999. The young woman was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. The County changed its strip search policy for juveniles shortly after the ACLU initially contacted officials about the matter.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
The federal Equal Access Act requires schools to give all noncurriculum-related student clubs – such as Gay-Straight Alliances - equal access to school facilities, regardless of the content of the speech in their meetings.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
Colin Moyer, a senior at Curtis High School in University Place, has been awarded a 2009 ACLU Youth Activist Scholarship for challenging the teaching of a form of creationism in his science class and for promoting freedom of speech at his school. Moyer is one of 16 students across the nation to receive the award.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
In the wake of the tragic murder of gay student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming, civil rights advocates in Washington are calling for passage of the Safe Schools Act.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Washington Supreme Court today struck down the City of Sumner's curfew ordinance, ruling that the law is unconstitutionally vague. The American Civil Liberties Union represents the Sumner parent who challenged the law. The parent had been fined for violating the curfew in 1999 after he allowed his teenage son to go to a neighborhood convenience store at night.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
Sunnyside High School students and their parents have negotiated an agreement with Sunnyside School District to clear illegally imposed suspensions from the students’ school records. The suspensions were imposed when the students left school last November to protest the passage of Initiative 200, a measure restricting affirmative action programs.
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009
At its June meeting the ACLU-WA Board of Directors adopted a policy opposing laws that require parents to make financial contributions toward the costs of their child
News Release, Published: 
Friday, November 20, 2009

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