Today we’d like to introduce you to Peri Stone-Palmquist.
Hi Peri, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was a newspaper reporter when I met the founding executive director of the Student Advocacy Center, Ruth Zweifler. She introduced me to young people who had been expelled from school and no one would educate them or let them back in school. Their stories took my breath away and captured my heart.
I personally did not get into trouble in school, but I always knew the power of an education and the power of having adults believe in me, support me and facilitate opportunities. I knew deep in my heart that every child deserved that, especially the ones experiencing homelessness, foster care and other challenges in life.
I became very inspired by the way Student Advocacy Center listened to young people, and worked with their families to realize their rights. Ruth and the families at SAC inspired me to go back to school and earn my degrees in public policy and social work. I conducted research with SAC and after a few other jobs, was asked to apply to become the executive director 13 years ago.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Running a grassroots nonprofit, especially one that provides such unique services, is always a challenge. The fundraising never ends and that has been a true challenge. We focused right away on measuring our impact and the data really speaks for itself, which has helped us to attract long-time funding partners.
We have lived in a long period of time of fewer and fewer resources being devoted to public schools, so that has made advocating for alternatives to removal and advocating for special education supports, a challenge. Even when districts want to do what’s right, they are challenged by limited resources. So we are always thinking about how we bring more resources to our public schools and to the young people who need them the most.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have spent the past 25 years or so learning about school discipline and how young people’s behavior in school tells us a story about their own pain and the desperate need they have for more support. In that time, I’ve learned the power of relationship and hope, even when resources are limited.
I am most proud that a broad coalition of us took a stand and overturned zero tolerance in Michigan in 2017. I know we have a long way to go to reduce suspensions and expulsions, but we no longer force schools’ hands. I’m proud of the recognition that childhood trauma deserves much more care, love and attention — and that exclusion hardly gets to the root of issues.
I’ve been deeply listening to young people and families for about 20 years — whether that was in in motel room, the porch, a school, an expulsion hearing or somewhere else. I’m always learning from young people and caregivers and trying to share their concerns, solutions, priorities.
What are your plans for the future?
Student Advocacy Center has been working closely with a group of amazing organizations around the state studying school funding and the state’s investment in funding. On the ground, we were seeing crumbling buildings, lack of staff, stressed staff, lack of higher level courses and arts options and so much more in areas with higher levels of poverty. We learned that Michigan has some of the lowest test scores in the country, one of the lowest graduation rates for students with disabilities, and one of the lowest student-to-counselor ratios in the country. Why? As we studied the issues, we learned that Michigan is underfunding public schools by close to $5 billion (School Research Funding Collaborative). A robust amount of research shows that money matters in school outcomes like graduation rates, especially when it’s targeted to low-income students. But in Michigan revenue for public education has fallen for decades. In fact, our schools were receiving $4 billion less PER YEAR in 2022 than what was provided in 2004. With that in mind, we’ve been advocating for more investment in our public schools and starting to explore how we can raise revenue for schools in ways that don’t hurt the very people hurting the most in our economies. This work has been very rewarding and I hope we can see a day in Michigan where our schools are adequately funded.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.studentadvocacycenter.org
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiFZLe5_z4vbVjzCI6oXReA
