Pathologizing ‘At-Risk’ Families in the Disciplinary Alternative School

• In Event: Challenging Actuarial Logics and Reconsidering Risk

Abstract

Dating back to the “child saving” movement and the birth of the US juvenile justice system, we have seen the state utilize tactics of surveillance, containment, and punishment to control ‘at-risk’ youth under the guise of “saving” them. Such tactics often extend into the school, with increased police presence, hyper-securitization, and exclusionary punishment. And it is in the unique, yet oft-ignored space of the disciplinary alternative school that we witness perhaps the most dramatic attempts at correcting students through these tactics. However, it is not just alternative school students who experience these strategies of control. Similar to the juvenile justice system, the disciplinary alternative school works to pathologize and then control families, with the goal of “saving” the children. This presentation will explore how the rules and regulations of the modern disciplinary alternative school continues the tradition of identifying predominantly poor families of color as dysfunctional—albeit often under the guise of risk-based logics and practices.

Author

• Kaitlyn Robison, Old Dominion University