| |
Update
Report:
Minority
students
still
face
harsher
punishments
in
school
By
KIMBERLY
HEFLING
AP
Education
Writer
WASHINGTON
(AP) --
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
Education
Department
said it
would
release
more
details
Tuesday.
"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.
Duncan
said
some
school
officials
might
not have
been
aware of
inconsistencies
in how
they
handle
discipline,
and he
hoped
the
report
would be
an
eye-opener.
Raul
Gonzalez,
legislative
director
at the
National
Council
of La
Raza who
taught
school
in New
York,
said
"zero
tolerance"
policies
in both
schools
and the
court
system
disproportionately
affect
black
and
Hispanic
kids. He
said the
policies
have
created
a system
that
takes
kids out
of
school
and
ultimately
leads
them
into
prison
where
they
become
hardened
criminals.
He said
more
moderate
responses
are
needed
in
schools,
and he
hopes
that the
report
will
lead to
a change
in
policies
in
schools
and in
state
laws.
"We've
lost
control
of all
judgment
here,
and it's
almost
always a
black
kid or a
Hispanic
kid"
affected,
Gonzalez
said.
According
to the
Education
Department's
report,
42
percent
of the
referrals
to law
enforcement
involve
black
students
and 29
percent
involved
Hispanics,
while 35
percent
of
students
involved
in
school-related
arrests
were
black
and 37
percent
were
Hispanic.
Black
students
made up
18
percent
of the
students
in the
sample,
but they
were 35
percent
of
students
suspended
once and
39
percent
of
students
expelled,
the
report
said.
|
