School-Justice Partnership

The Wayne County SJP consists of professionals from the courts, the schools, law enforcement and social service agencies committed to providing effective resources to students who are at risk of dropping out and entering the “school-to-prison pipeline.” 

Established to support the educational needs of students experiencing homelessness or transiency of foster care during the COVID-19 health crisis. Hotline will be answered 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Please call (734) 334-1567.

Our Vision: Keep the students in Wayne County in school and out of the court system.

Download the SJP Resource Guide

Who We Are

Guiding Principles

  1. Schools that foster positive school climates can help to engage all students in learning by preventing problem behaviors and intervening effectively to support struggling and at risk-students.
  2. Schools that have discipline policies or codes of conduct with clear, appropriate, applied expectations and consequences will help students improve behavior, increase engagement, and boost achievement.
  3. Schools that build staff capacity and continuously evaluate their own discipline policies and practices are more likely to ensure fairness, equity, and promote achievement for all students.

Working Objectives

  1. Convene a countywide work group that represents education, the court system, community mental health, child welfare, and other appropriate agencies. (On-going)
  2. Collect and review data to determine the extent of the issues throughout the county. Collaborate with districts and public-school academies to address the issues of suspension, expulsion and truancy.
  3. Develop focused educational and professional development activities aimed at supporting our most at-risk youth.
  4. Maintain an on-line collection of articles, presentations and other resources that are applicable for this work. The work of the Wayne County SJP supports the strategies of the Michigan School-Justice Partnership

Strategic Objectives

  • Increase overall state graduation rates by 5%
  • Increase local graduation rates by 10%
  • Reduce juvenile arrest rates for truancy and school – related misconduct by 5%

Tactical Objectives

  • Reduce truancy rates by 5%
  • Reduce school expulsion by 10%
  • Reduce out-of-school suspensions by 10%

Resources

Library of resources

Articles

Presentations

Wayne County Resource Guides

Michigan State Board of Education: Model Policies

Reporting data