"Soon as they get in trouble, they want the children in jail": Perspectives from Black families of formerly incarcerated youth on equity and the school-prison nexus in New Orleans

The city of New Orleans has a unique, decentralized public school system composed almost entirely of charter schools. Charter schools have more autonomy in their operations than traditional public schools and have been known to contribute to the school-prison nexus through their lack of quality teachers, harsh disciplinary practices, and more. Using a framework for equity in schools, along with an understanding of critical race theory and the telling of stories as a counternarrative, this qualitative case study explores the perceptions of equity and the role of school structures, policies and systems in incarceration from the perspective of students and families of students who have experienced incarceration after attending New Orleans public schools after the charter school shift. Participants reflected on the ways they experienced access to a good education, achievement in schools, agency in their education, and the formation of their identity to look at how equity plays out for students who experienced incarceration. The stories told by participants were captured by the themes of a lack of quality staff & teacher follow through, failure to support students, especially those with behavior needs, unfair and harsh policies & practices, missed opportunities, limited influence in educational decisions, navigating racial and social identities, impact of incarceration on school identity, impact of specific individuals as a positive factor, and individual agency being greater than the school’s role in incarceration. This study presents recommendations from some of our city’s most vulnerable populations to those influencers with the power to make changes to charter school structures, systems and policies in New Orleans.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Marino, Anthony

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pak, Yoon
• Hale, Jon
• Adeyemo, Adeoye
• Kang, Hyun

• dissertation
• education
• equity
• New Orleans
• school-prison nexus
• school-to-prison pipeline
• critical race theory
• charter schools

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Anthony Marino

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129434

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129434