What is abolitionist education?
“Abolition is about presence, not absence. It’s about building life-affirming institutions.”
-- Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Abolition is the practice of creating a world without prisons, police, and surveillance. It means building systems of justice that are grounded in healing and accountability, It means working towards a world where everyone has what they need to thrive and grow. At Freedom Side School, abolitionist education means:
We care for the whole child in the context of their family and community.
Families on both sides of prison walls are active partners in their children’s education. Social-emotional support and trauma-informed care are the foundation upon which all other learning occurs. We consider the needs of each child as the foundation of supporting their growth as a community member and as a learner.
We practice healing justice across our school community.
We respond to harm and conflict in our school community with practices that support healing, accountability, and transformation. We teach these practices in the classroom and support students to become skilled facilitators of restorative and transformative justice practices.
We teach children the truth about the world and offer them the tools to make the world more free.
At Freedom Side, we teach children how to organize, and the curriculum intersects with age-appropriate opportunities for students to engage in grassroots organizing campaigns across the city.