Black Students are Still Kicked Out of School at Higher Rates Despite Reforms
Source:https://apnews.com/
In Georgia, Black students, who make up just over one-third of the student population, face a disproportionate share of disciplinary actions like suspensions and expulsions. This trend reflects broader national patterns and has been a focus for reform efforts, driven by movements like Black Lives Matter.
Key Highlight:
While there have been some improvements in reducing suspension rates for Black students over the past decade, significant disparities remain. For example, in Missouri, Black students, who make up about 15% of the student population, received 36% of all suspension days in the 2022-2023 school year, down from 46% in 2013-2014.
The concept of the “school-to-prison pipeline” gained attention during the racial reckoning, highlighting how school expulsions and dropouts can lead to higher chances of arrest and incarceration later. Despite some progress in reducing suspensions and expulsions, systemic biases and structural issues persist. This continues to disproportionately affect Black students, perpetuating the school-to-prison pipeline, as emphasized by Terry Landry Jr. from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Suspensions and expulsions often lead to repeated disciplinary issues, school disengagement, and worse academic outcomes for students. Despite this, some schools and policymakers have intensified exclusionary discipline practices since the pandemic. For example, Missouri reported its highest number of lost class days due to suspensions in a decade in 2023. In Louisiana, Black students face disproportionately higher suspension rates and longer suspensions compared to white students. A new law in Louisiana will further exacerbate this issue by recommending expulsion for students suspended three times in a single year.
In 2014, the Obama administration issued federal guidelines to reduce racial disparities in school discipline by promoting restorative justice and limiting the use of suspensions, expulsions, and law enforcement referrals. These guidelines were later rolled back by the Trump administration, but data collection on discipline remains mandated. In Minnesota, the percentage of expulsions and out-of-school suspensions affecting Black students decreased from 40% in 2018 to 32% in 2022, though this is still disproportionate to their population share. A 2017 legal settlement required Minnesota schools to address these disparities, but progress is unclear due to pandemic-related school closures.
Khulia Pringle, an education advocate in St. Paul, witnessed the negative impact of repeated suspensions on her daughter, who considered dropping out of school. This experience led Pringle to leave her teaching job to support other families facing similar issues. Her advocacy revealed that harsh school discipline was a common concern among Black parents. The Black Lives Matter movement adopted education reform as a key goal, emphasizing the need for an education system that respects students’ cultural identities and avoids unnecessary disciplinary measures. Monifa Bandele of the Movement for Black Lives stresses that each suspension or expulsion increases the likelihood of students entering the criminal justice system.
Black students often face harsher punishments than white students for similar behaviors due to biased perceptions, according to Linda Morris from the ACLU. In response to these disparities, many school districts have implemented restorative justice practices to address the underlying causes of behavior rather than resorting to suspension. Increased investment in mental health resources and efforts to remove police from schools, which gained momentum after George Floyd’s murder in 2020, are also part of the broader movement to address these issues.
Calls for stricter discipline and increased police presence in schools have intensified recently, partly as a reaction to the progress made by advocates for more equitable school practices. Katherine Dunn from the Advancement Project suggests this pushback reflects a resistance to the organizing and power gained by marginalized students.
Before his suspension, Zaire Byrd was excelling in school activities and had a clean disciplinary record. However, after getting involved in a fight where he claimed he was defending himself and friends from a robbery threat, he was suspended for 10 days and sent to an alternative school. This disruption, compounded by starting high school remotely during the pandemic, significantly impacted his education and made it challenging for him to keep up with his learning.
After his suspension, Zaire Byrd was placed in an alternative disciplinary program in Georgia, which was intended to provide continued education and support. However, Byrd experienced a dehumanizing process of daily searches and felt disheartened by the experience. Despite these challenges, he eventually transferred to a different school where he felt supported and graduated. Byrd now plans to study cybersecurity at an HBCU. Reflecting on his experience, Byrd wishes he had been given a second chance instead of being expelled for his first offense.
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