U.S. probes racial disparities in Seattle school discipline
Source: Reuters
By Laura L. Myers
SEATTLE | Thu Mar 7, 2013 7:25am EST
(Reuters) - The Education Department is investigating whether Seattle's public school district discriminates against black students by subjecting them to tougher and more frequent discipline than white students, agency and district officials said.
The inquiry, launched in May 2012, is focusing in part on the district's own statistics showing that African-American high school students are suspended or expelled more than three times as often as other students, school officials said on Wednesday.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
More than a quarter of all black middle school pupils have received short-term suspensions in any given year since at least the 2006-07 academic year, compared with 7.4 percent or less annually for white students, the data shows.
African-Americans represent just over 20 percent of the 12,500 high school students in the Seattle district and 18 percent of 8,000 middle school students there, and yet they account for more than 40 percent of all suspensions and expulsions in those schools.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/07/us-usa-schools-seattle-idUSBRE9260KJ20130307
= new reply since forum marked as read
1977...I was teaching in a south Georgia rural school district that was being investigated by the State Dept. of Education. Seems like the district, in particular my elementary school, was paddling significantly more black students than white students and complaints had been made. An ACLU representative came to visit, had a nice talk with the school superintendent and principal. So what was the district's resulting solution? Administration told the faculty not to worry about paddling so many black kids. Just be sure that every time we paddled a black kid, we should "jerk up a white kid and paddle him too".
Just so you'll know, the Christmas present to each teacher from the very same principal the previous year was an inch thick wooden paddle made by the high school woodworking class. I never even unwrapped mine.
I only lasted one year there but it was more than enough.