Our students deserve better than failures of federal education policy
Once again, it appears local leaders will have to fill a void of responsibility created by the Trump administration. This time, the issue involves ensuring that students aren’t being subjected to discriminatory discipline.
On Tuesday, the administration made its clearest signal yet that it plans to rescind an Obama-era set of guidelines aimed at reducing racial disparities in student suspensions and expulsions.
Those guidelines, which are non-binding, encouraged school districts to adopt alternative means of discipline, reconsider policies for suspensions and expulsions, and be judicious in making calls to law enforcement to help resolve disciplinary issues. They were based on hard evidence showing that minority students, particularly African-americans, were being suspended or expelled at levels many times higher than whites, far disproportionate to their actual behavior. One study showed that black girls are suspended at six times the rate of their white female classmates, for example, while others pointed to stark imbalances involving disabled students as well.
But then came the shooting at Parkland, where it was revealed that the shooter had been a participant in a restorative justice program during middle school. Conservatives seized on that, using largely anecdotal evidence to claim that the guidelines had led to lax disciplinary policies at Parkland and elsewhere that had put students at risk.
Now, in a report Tuesday by the Federal Commission on School Safety, Education Secretary Betsy Devos has recommended abandoning the guidelines.
That’s troubling, but worse yet is another recommendation by Devos for schools to “seriously consider partnering with local law enforcement in the training and arming of school personnel.”
For minority students, this is a one-two threat. Not only would it increase their risk of being unjustly disciplined, but it would introduce guns in the same environment where it’s already proven that they face more harsh punishment than their white peers.
Another disturbing aspect of the report is that it contains just one recommendation for a policy that would reduce the proliferation of guns — the expansion of “extreme risk protection orders” that can be used to legally confiscate guns from mentally disturbed individuals.
Overall, the report constitutes another destructive policy from a highly discriminatory administration.
“The Commission asserts without foundation that this non-binding guidance makes school less safe,“National Association of Secondary School Principals executive director Joann Bartoletti said in a scathing statement. “The conclusion is offensive, it’s infuriating, it’s nonsensical, and it will assuredly lead to the result the administration wanted all along.”
Todd Cox, director of policy at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said in a story published by The Huffington Post that the administration’s recommendations were “an extension of Brown versus Board of Education.”
“Attacking that guidance is essentially attacking Brown and its legacy,” Cox said. “It’s another example of how this administration doesn’t have students, particularly students of color, in its best interest.”
That being the case, it’s imperative for the Clark County School District and school systems nationwide to step up for equality.
Dangerous students should absolutely be removed from school, and highly disruptive students should be taken out of class and punished, but discipline should be applied uniformly regardless of students’ ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or physical and mental abilities.
In addition, schools should be mindful of the ramifications of a suspension, expulsion or especially an arrest for students. Studies show that students who are disciplined at that level have higher dropout rates, which can have drastic effects on their earning potential as adults.
Students should be aware that there are consequences for their actions, but the punishment should fit the offense.
The Obama guidelines were a good idea when they were adopted, and they remain one today.
Schools should stick with them, and ignore the Trump administration’s irresponsible recommendations.