Posted on 10/07/2010 10:23:03 AM PDT by earlJam
Are minority students disciplined more harshly? Obama administration to issue suspension guidelines
Published: Thursday, October 07, 2010, 12:06 PM
Dave Murray | The Grand Rapids Press
Are minority students disciplined more harshly than white students?
The Obama administration thinks so, and is planning to make addressing racial disparities in school discipline a high priority, reports Education Week’s Mary Ann Zehr.
The administration intends to “release guidance” on school discipline this winter, presumably telling local schools how they should deal with problem students, Zehr reports.
The U.S. departments of Education and Justice held a conference late last month and Zehr quoted Thomas E. Perez, the assistant attorney general for civil rights.
“Regrettably, students of color are receiving different and harsher disciplinary punishments than whites for the same or similar infractions, and they are disproportionately impacted by zero-tolerance policies—a fact that only serves to exacerbate already deeply entrenched disparities in many communities,” he told attendees.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the gathering that he, too, is concerned.
Zehr reported that according prepared remarks, Mr. Duncan said he was “deeply troubled by rising discipline rates and disparities in discipline” in the nation’s schools, and that the administration has already launched five compliance reviews on school discipline.
Agency leaders said the different treatment might not be intentional.
Zehr quoted staff n the Education Department’s civil rights office as saying that staff looks for “different treatment” when enforcing civil rights law, where people are intentionally discriminated against.
But, Zehr noted, the feds also look for “disparate impact,” meaning that a particular group is disproportionately affected by a policy though no intention of discrimination may exist.
So, a school might not intentionally look to suspect minority students, but if a greater percentage of minority students are disciplined, there might be a problem.
But some argue that a crackdown on the districts could lead to administrators being afraid to hand down discipline if they fear they could be hauled into court or face cuts in federal aid.
A leader of a Washington-based civil rights group told Zehr that she backs the closer look at discipline — and said the Bush administration neglected the problem.
“Now is the time when we need to have strong enforcement of civil rights laws with regard to public education because we see the numbers are so outrageous with regard to outcomes for children of color,” Judith A. Browne-Dianis, the co-director of the Advancement Project, told Zehr.
Keep the Feds out of our schools!!!!!
“Independent” School Districts my toe
School vouchers anyone?
Yes but they also get most of the scholarships, grants, etc...
I know, I lived it. No meal ticket for me so I had to join the Air Force to pay for college.
FUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUbo!
LLS
“...but if a greater percentage of minority students are disciplined, there might be a problem.”
There are alternative explanations for this, other than racist disciplinarians.
Give me the numbers on the offenses committed by each race and we’ll talk. White kids get into trouble for chewing gum, talking on the cell phone, maybe a food fight here and there. Meanwhile, I’d guess academic issues, belligerence, absenteeism, and violence lead the charge for blacks.
I’m so damn tired of the race stuff. So tired of it...
The criminal justice system has a “disparate impact” by race. Is Obummer going to demand change there too?
Why doesnt he demand that people stop committing crimes, then there won’t be any racial disparity in incarceration rates.
Thanks for pushing the racial divide back a few decades Barry. /s
I don’t hate you because you are half-black, I hate you because you are a socialist that is trying to tear this nation into pieces.
FUBO
When my daughter was in public elementary school I volunteered in the classroom one day a week. When students misbehaved the teacher would put them in ‘time out’ outside in the hall. For more serious offenses the child would go to the principals office. I noticed that *some* kids could get away with stuff and get neither form of discipline.
When I asked the teacher about it she said that she had a quota. She could only discipline ‘minority’ students a certain number of times each week ... not per student, but by race. X number of blacks could be disciplined per week, x number of latinos could be disciplined per week, etc.
My daughter was in in private school the next year.
Wow, considering I worked in a school that is 98% black, I would have really liked to have seen what solutions Obama thinks up.
You’re a bit too late.
According to this administration, if a school discliplines a student for calling a teacher a M*****F***er, then the school is racist because a Black student is much more likely than a White or Asian student to call a techer that name.
Is this the Onion or Scrappleface? Every day there’s some fresh lunacy from this regime!!
Lets not even look at this by race:
A. Which kids don’t have a stable nuclear family to go home to?
B. Which kids are being disciplined?
Something tells me A=B.
When black students misbehave, they are primarily hurting (besides themselves) other black and Hispanic students, since Asian and white parents will do whatever it takes (moving, private schooling, homeschooling) to keep their kids out of such schools.
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