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.
Are there any bigger whiners in this country than blacks or their apologist?
Come to America where if you are black you are not responsible for anything you do.
Oh please, like anyone believes there is any discipline in public schools.
Racial quotas for disciplinary suspensions will make our schools SOOOO much better! /sarc
So now a white kid can draw a picture of a stick and get expelled, while a black kid can punch his teacher in the mouth, causing her to lose two teeth, but only get a time out. Gotta keep the numbers even, you know.
I think we all know the great disparities in which groups commit crimes per the FBI statistics. There might be some correlation between those groups who cause the most disciplinary problems in school, and who later commit the most crimes. Perhaps there is a progressions from causing problems in school to committing crimes out of school.
Just a guess.
The vast majority of parents are either working excessively long hours just to pay the bills or they don’t give a rat’s ass about the kids.
This whole issue could be resolved (for everyone) if all schools were private.
Then, if parents themselves believe their children are being disciplined too harshly, for whatever reason, they could take their children and their money to another school.
Gee when did the President get elected to all school boards in the country?
Great.
We will get back to you when that happens.
Careful there. What you just said is a Hate Truth, and cannot be uttered.
Your kids will be free. XD
That's much too simple and logical. Just remember, "Four legs good, two legs bad" is the only thing the chattel need learn in school.
Some kids are little monsters. There’s no discipline at home. Mix that with barely above retarded IQs and a culture that discourages learning and you’ve got a future class of prisoners.
Weeding out the worst of these is a good idea.
Better still, create financial incentives for NOT breeding. This will save billions in the long term.
I never said it would happen. The vast majority of people, especially out here in suburbia, are far too attached to their beloved public school system to ever let go.
How dare you or anyone speak the truth about this situation. /s
The net result of this will be that blacks will be given a license to do as they please, while white kids will be suspended for any accusation of wrongdoing, just so the school district can keep their numbers good in case of DOJ audit.
I just used your phrase “Hate Truth” and did a courtesy ping.
That should be a classic.
Un-friggin'-believable.
Yours was a special situation, for which the operation of the rules is easy to see. The 2% non-black students would be immune from expulsion, because they would have to be kept at school in order to receive 49 times as much punishment each as the average black kid. That way, both races would be treated equally because they would receive the same amount of punishment.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.