25 TN school districts cited for discipline

The Tennessee Department of Education flagged 25 school districts across the state for disproportionately disciplining children with disabilities.

Many of the districts were called out for their specific treatment of black students with disabilities.

The state released the full list of cited districts to the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee following the revelation last month that Collierville Schools had received such a citation. It was unclear at the time if other districts had received the same notification.

The list include the biggest districts in the state: Shelby County Schools, Metro Nashville Public Schools, Knox County Schools and Hamilton County Schools, along with smaller ones like Bartlett City Schools. The state-run Achievement School District is also on the list.

One district, Millington Municipal Schools, appealed the designation and won based on corrected data. Another seven have filed appeals, and the rest have until Friday to do so.

The state’s data review is a requirement under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act. Once the appeals process is completed, anyone found to still have a “significant disproportionality” will have to redirect 15 percent of their funding for students with disabilities to address the gap.

The money would go to “coordinated early intervening services to address areas of disproportionality,” according to the state.

This is the first year in several years that any districts made the list, after the state redefined the criteria.

The state did not provide the data to back up each claim of a district disciplining some students at a higher rate than others. Publicly available data includes discipline rates for black students and for students with disabilities, but does not further break down the subgroups.

The designation is based on three years’ worth of data.

Angela Whitelaw, Shelby County Schools’ deputy superintendent of schools and academic support, said the district flagged students with disabilities, and African-american students within that group, as a troublesome data point before the state’s designation. “Definitely we noticed it,” Whitelaw said. The district has implemented a practice of “progressive discipline” in recent years that focuses on the root cause of a child’s misbehavior, works to address it and implements interventions before a suspension or expulsion, when possible.

Whitelaw said the district has renewed efforts to address discipline for certain student populations, and did so again after the state’s designation. She could not yet say the exact amount of funding that would need to be rerouted to address the disparity, but said it would be allocated for early interventions.

The district also implemented trauma-based supports at 25 schools, some of which have seen significant drops in discipline rates as a result.

“We have things in place, but as we move forward, we’re having a heightened focus on how do we make sure we’re treating the whole child,” she said.

Racial sensitivity training for staff will also continue, Whitelaw said.

Jason Sykes, spokesman for Bartlett City Schools, said his district has recently implemented additional professional development to address both racial bias and discipline techniques for students with disabilities.

“We feel like we’re headed in the right direction on this,” he said.

Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @Jenpignolet.