Last week, when Shelby Sendelbach decided to tell the whole world about her grade school crush, she didn’t know she’d done something on par with drug possession, assault, and terrorist threats. By writing “I love Alex” on the wall of her school gymnasium, the Houston girl had committed a Level-4 infraction based on the school’s discipline policy.  According to the Katy Independent School District, only murder, gun possession, sexual assault, and arson constitute more severe offenses.

As a result, the 12-year-old girl was suspended from school for four months and reassigned to an alternative school.

Despite the absurdity of her punishment, Shelby Sendelbach’s circumstance is far from unique. Across the country, schools are “cracking down” on the nation’s youth by increasing police and military presence, expanding surveillance technology, and instituting draconian disciplinary policies. In doing so, public schools have shifted from sites of democratic possibility to feeding grounds for an insatiable prison and military industrial complex. Socially common (and developmentally appropriate) mistakes are no longer being treated as school-based issues, but as criminal acts that must be handled through punishment rather than compassion and care. Although punishment and care are not necessarily competing ideals –young people certainly need to learn that there are consequences to their actions—the liberal invocation of zero-tolerance policies and law enforcement personnel within schools necessarily changes the public discourse on youth from investment and love to containment and fear. As Henry Giroux points out, this shift inhibits democracy and undermines social justice.

Later this month, Shelby Sendelbach’s parents will appeal the school’s decision at a disciplinary hearing. In all likelihood –particularly in light of the growing media attention– district officials will reduce her punishment to something more just and reasonable. Unfortunately, many of the nation’s youth, particularly those who are Black, Brown or poor, lack the access and opportunity to challenge the authoritarian policies of many urban schools. Furthermore, given the lucrative nature of prison and military expansion, the neo-liberal State has no motivation to shift policies in ways that enable favorable educational outcomes and experiences for its most vulnerable citizens.

As such, the current neo-fascist conditions within our schools will only intensify until we stand up and fight back!