Unequal punishments must be addressed
It could be worse. The lopsided numbers of Africanamerican students who sat through inschool suspensions in Collierville’s schools last year could have just been sent home, or, for that matter, anywhere else.
But when African-americans make up 11.4 percent of students who are put in what is, for all intents and purposes, a time-out for big kids, compared to 2.4 percent of white students, the students may not be the only ones who are doing something wrong.
The adults may be getting it wrong also.
That’s why the Tennessee Department of Education is right to be concerned about those disparities, as well as the disproportionate rates in which the Collierville district disciplines students with disabilities; they made up 9.9 percent of in-school suspensions.
School-to-prison pipeline
The department should be concerned — especially since most recent national data shows that African-american students tend to be punished more harshly than white students for similar infractions.
One report, for example, by the National Center for Learning Disabilities, found that black students with disabilities are nearly three times as likely to be suspended out of school as their white counterparts, and twice as likely to be sent to in-school suspension as their white counterparts.
This trend also powers the school-toprison pipeline. And if there’s anything that Shelby County doesn’t need, it’s more black youths in that pipeline.
“In-school suspension has always been supported as a better alternative than out-of-school suspension,” said Zach Casey, a Rhodes College education professor whose research centers on multicultural education.
“But this is more of the same of this racialized pattern of black students being disciplined disproportionately.”
Dorothy Hines, a Kansas University education professor whose work examines racially-skewed disciplinary policies, said in-school suspensions can be helpful if, for example, they’re staffed with professionals to help the students with their behavioral issues.
But many times, Hines said, that’s not the case.
The state report, in fact, even states that, “students who receive an in-school suspension are present in school but not receiving instruction in their regularly assigned classroom, thus missing important traditional instructional time.”
Said Hines: “If they’re (school districts) using them (in-school suspensions) as a place where they can speak with counselors, or others, then that’s good. But if it’s just another space where they can be isolated, and they aren’t learning, then that’s more of the same thing…
“The problem is that in-school suspensions can be used as a holding cell.”
Discipline may reflect stereotypes
District officials are reviewing the state’s report for accuracy. Still, it’s hard to ignore the fact that these disparities are also being reported at a time when more African-americans are grappling with unfair treatment in suburban schools.
That likely is happening because suburban parents and teachers are used to mostly white schools, and lopsided discipline for African-american students may reflect stereotypes that adults hold, L’heureux Lewis-mccoy, a New York University professor who studies racial inequality in suburban schools, told USA Today.
The newspaper recently examined the racism that black students face in those schools.
That’s why Collierville school district officials should view the state’s findings as a cause for action — especially since African-americans make up 17.4 percent of its 8,600 students, while students with disabilities make up 12 percent.
If the disparity figures are accurate, they should realize that, with suspensions and disproportionate punishments fueling dropouts, and with dropouts fueling crime rates, they must ensure they aren’t disciplining black students in ways they don’t discipline white students for similar transgressions, or that they aren’t unfairly punishing students who have disabilities.
Especially since society will pay for it later. Either on the streets or in taxes.
Tonyaa Weathersbee can be reached at tonyaa.weathersbee@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @tonyaajw.