Report says minority students face harsher punishments

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From Times Dispatch:

More than 70 percent of students involved in school-related arrests or cases referred to law enforcement were Hispanic or African-American, according to an Education Department report that raises questions about whether students of all races are disciplined evenhandedly in America’s schools.

Black students are more than three times as likely as their white peers to be suspended or expelled, according to an early snapshot of the report released to reporters. The findings come from a national collection of civil rights data from 2009-10 of more than 72,000 schools serving 85 percent of the nation.

…

“The sad fact is that minority students across America face much harsher discipline than non-minorities, even within the same school,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters.

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  • KayWhitlock

    This has been true for more than a decade.  When will those who are in a position to make decisions commit to change?
     
    This so argues for local progressive activism to retake school boards.  But even within progressive communities, we have a tough mountain to climb to convince many within our own ranks that “get tough” doesn’t produce either nonviolence or justice.

  • thanks for the preview Seeta — more in this tomorrow in Criminal InJustice

  • epitz33

    How are minority students supposed to effectively learn and reach their full potential when they are facing harsher disciplinary actions?  When a black student is three times as likely to be taken out of school because of school-related crimes and arrests, there is no way they are given fair treatment or advantages to continue their education.  Why do we make it so hard for them to thrive?