Posted on 08/09/2012 6:31:00 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed a federal complaint against the Okaloosa County School District, alleging disciplinary discrimination toward black students.
The 22-page document asserts that in the 2010-11 school year, black students accounted for about 47 percent of all in- and out-of-school suspensions, although they made up only 12 percent of the school district’s population.
The civil rights organization filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights after more than a year of investigation.
“It started with complaints that we received from parents in the Panhandle. We were just hearing all these stories and we were like, ‘What? Not in this day and age,’ ” said Stephanie Langer, the staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Florida office. “We were surprised and shocked with what we found.”
After studying school districts across the state, the organization decided to file complaints against the Okaloosa, Bay, Escambia, Flagler and Suwannee County school districts. The first complaint was filed in February and concluded last month with accusations filed against Okaloosa County.
Investigations have been launched in Escambia and Suwannee counties based on the complaint, Langer said.
“I think we have enough evidence to file in all 67 districts in Florida,” she said. “What we found were these five counties were very representative of what was happening in the state.”
Okaloosa’s complaint specifically cites experiences of four students who are identified by only their initials and ages. Two attended Riverside Elementary School in Crestview and one attended Fort Walton Beach High School. The fourth attended Okaloosa Academy Charter School in Fort Walton Beach, which is overseen by the Rader Group.
Okaloosa’s complaint also criticized the school district’s site-based management program, which leaves most discipline issues in the hands of principals. Only expulsions are handled at the district level.
The trouble with that practice and the district’s overall discipline approach, Langer said, is that schools are punishing students for misdemeanor offenses the same way they do violent ones.
“We think it’s a problem with schools criminalizing kids for being kids,” she said.
Superintendent of Schools Alexis Tibbetts said her staff received the complaint Monday and had only just begun investigating the allegations.
“It’s safe to say we’re reviewing the data to see if it’s valid or not,” Tibbetts said.
Tibbetts was able to confirm that the district did have a 12 percent population of black students in 2010-11, but couldn’t confirm the other numbers.
She said the percentages could change based on the number of times a single behavioral incident was reported.
Tibbetts also defended the district’s site-based management program. She said it was truly the best option not only because of staffing shortages at the district level, but because principals can keep up with individual student discipline issues more easily.
She did emphasize that similar policies were in place at each school.
“We have a consistent expectation for behavior in our school district, and that is regardless of the color of your skin or gender or any other attribute,” she said.
Tibbetts said no one with the federal education department had contacted her as of Tuesday afternoon.
Read more: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/school-51533-students-black.html#ixzz236PfWSxv
By the way, the Southern Poverty Law Center IS a hate group. They hate anyone to the right of Chairman Mao.
Go back to segregation in the schools and everyone can be happy.
So what we need is equal opportunity in discipline. Black kid gets thrown out of school for whatever reason, find a white kid and trump up some charges and get his white ass out of school as well. Sounds like something Sharpton, Jackson, and the Obama Administration could support.
The SPLC is a hate group.
BTW:They are known to spy on groups they disagree with and have files on thousands of people who they classify as "BIGOTS"
This should finally finish even the appearance of usefulness and safety in the public schools. Some districts or states may try punishing white students more, perhaps on a draw straws basis, while most will desist from any sort of discipline at all, which is the outcome desired by the obamaleft and the race industry. Negros should not have to learn anything or do any work or be punished for anything but should be served by all the other groups in reparation of their forbears’ time as slaves.Perhaps a reliable supply of pure drugs is being arranged by the ATF-CIA deal with Sinaloa.
Poor little darlings are most likely aspiring rappers who eat Twinkies, Skittles, and drink Slurpies.
Blacks are only 12% of the entire US population, but they commit 50% of the murders.
By this logic, the Just Us system should start convicting innocent white people of murder for the sake of equality.
I think that it's called "know your enemy"...
to answer your question in two words...
Zero Tolerance.
Blacks make up 12% of the population, yet they comprise 100% of the Olympic sprinters. Is it possible that (1)Black sprinters are faster than white sprinters, and/or (2) Black students cause more trouble than White students?
They just might. See, if you buy enough ammunition, you are probably planning a mass murder, so therefore you have to be guilty of a future crime, ala Minority Report.
Interestingly, there were two teenage men arrested for assault and attempted kidnapping in Okaloosa County this week. At least 50% of them were black.
That’s lie saying our justice system disriminates agains’t blacks. That explains why our prisons are so over crowded with blacks. Do they not stop to wonder why and that it MIGHT BE that blacks are the ones putting themselves there?
There are indeed very good blacks in this oountry, I have a great neighbor who just happens to be black. He is totally disgusted with his race of people here in America. The bads ones make it more difficult for him every day.
It would be interesting to do a comparative study with student homes having resident fathers vs those having just ‘baby daddys’...somewhere.
I've looked at the tactics of these two groups, their hate, their biases. Both groups should be shunned.
their = they’re
I think of the Southern Poverty Law Center as the German's Gestapo, Russia's secret police, and the Mob's enforcers... Any newspaper could debunk 99% of the crap they feed the 'select'... and that's why the 'good stuff' is NOT given to newspapers.
And yeah livius, 'scary' is the right word...
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