A disparity in discipline

Data: Black, special needs students punished more

If you are black or classified with a learning disability, you are more likely than your peers to be disciplined when you get into trouble at school, according to new federal data.

The latest data from the Office for Civil Rights shows that while black students make up 15 percent of the 50 million kids enrolled in public schools, they are involved in 31 percent of school-related arrests and referrals to police. And although students classified as learning disabled make up 12 percent of the national enrollment, 28 percent of arrests and police referrals involve those special needs students.

In contrast, whites, Latinos and Asians were disciplined either proportionately, or below their share of the overall enrollment.

The glaring disparity for black and learning disabled students is a red flag for schools that are required to provide equal opportunity for all students, the U.S. Department of Education said.

That goes for urban school districts close to home such as Danbury, where data shows that blacks and learning disabled students were suspended and referred to police disproportionately, and at suburban school districts such as Bethel and New Milford, where there are similar disparities for some minority students and those with special needs.

In Danbury, for example, black students represent 7 percent of the 11,000 children in public schools, but they accounted for 20 percent of out-of-school suspensions and 24 percent of referrals to police. In the same way, learning disabled children represent 12 percent of enrollment but accounted for 29 percent of suspensions and 30 percent of police referrals.

The city’s top educator said that is unacceptable.

“We strive for equal

treatment, and we can’t ignore that certain kids are disciplined at higher rates — they’re our students and I expect our folks to treat them fairly,” said Sal Pascarella, superintendent of Danbury schools, among the most diverse student bodies in the state. “This is disconcerting to me, because our rules should apply evenly all the time.”

While the Office for Civil Rights has the power to investigate and correct what it calls “gaps in opportunity” an education department spokesman said that was unlikely in this case, in as much as the raw data was only a starting point.

“(The) data alone doesn’t answer the “why” question; for instance in terms of why black students, students with disabilities, and males are referred to law enforcement at a higher percentage than their enrollment figures,” the spokesman said.

Leaders in Greater Danbury’s African-American community said they can answer the “why” question.

“This country has a history of discrimination going all the way back to slavery,” said Noel Hord, a retired Danbury philanthropist whose foundation has provided $4.5 million in college scholarships to AfricanAmerican students. “I grew up in the 60’s, so it doesn’t surprise me that students of color are disproportionately targeted; they have a more critical face looking at

them.”

The president of the Greater Danbury NAACP also said that she was not surprised by the data, which covers the 2015-2016 school year.

“It’s like this across the state,” said Glenda Armstrong. “It’s systemic racism.”

One Danbury family agrees up to a point, saying that prejudice and discrimination are pervasive in American culture, just not in Danbury schools.

“I do a lot of work at Danbury High School, and I am African-American, and I have a daughter in the school who is involved with the Black Lives Matter chapter,” said Melvette Hill. “I know what the data says, but I just don’t see on a day-to-day basis where that is the case.”

The data, reported every two years, comes from the nation’s 17,000 school districts. The most recent data, released last week, follows racial tensions over an arrest without cause of two black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks. In response, the corporation has pledged to provide store managers with training about “unconscious bias.”

Pascarella and his counterparts in Bethel and New Milford said school districts already have in place programs that train staff about responding to student behavior, and that help staff adjust discipline policies to get the best performance out of students.

“We have processes that look at all these things and we are definitely working on them,” said Bethel Superintendent Christine Carver. “It is a national problem, and that is why we have set up strategies to address subgroup populations – especially minorities.”

Fixing disparities

The federal data shows that students who are black and learning disabled are more likely to be suspended than students who are white, Latino or Asian.

Black males, for example, account for 25 percent of all out-of-school suspensions, even though black males make up 8 percent of the nation’s overall enrollment. Learning disabled students who represent 12 percent of enrollment account for 26 percent of suspensions.

There are similar disparities with minority students and learning disabled students in greater Danbury’s suburban districts.

In Bethel, Hispanics represented 16 percent of the school district’s 2,970 students in 2015-16, but accounted for 33 percent of suspensions. Students with learning disabilities made up 10.6 percent of enrollment but accounted for 56 percent of suspensions.

In New Milford, black students were only 2.3 percent of enrollment but accounted for 14 percent of suspensions. Learning disabled students were 13 percent of the district’s 4,200 students, but 68 percent of its suspensions.

New Milford’s top educator said there is already a system in place when a learning disabled student commits a suspendable offense to waive the punishment if it’s determined that the learning disability is the cause of the incident.

New Milford Superintendent Joshua Smith also questions whether the data was recording multiple incidents for the same student.

“No matter how you slice it, it is still an issue,” Smith said. “Over the last two years we have taken students out of class less, and we have done a lot of work on our discipline code, because suspensions don’t help students.”

In Danbury, Pascarella spoke of similar programs, noting that hard work goes into building a culture of diversity that doesn’t show up in civil rights metrics.

“Those numbers don’t show you all of our special needs kids who are integrating into regular education, and all of our different ethnicities that are getting along well together,” he said.

At the state’s largest high school, senior Mikayla Hill said she does not see the disparate treatment of black students and learning disabled students that the data shows.

“Our principal is very open to people of all colors and he wants to hear everyone’s voice,” said Hill, 18, who runs track and is a member of Danbury High School’s Black Lives Matter chapter. “It surprises me that black students and students with learning disabilities have a higher probability of getting in trouble.”