Student discipline shows racial trend

A disproportionate number of African-American students in some michigan school districts are being suspended and expelled, according to a report released Wednesday.

The American civil liberties union of michigan report recommends the state loosen its zero-tolerance policy to give local educators more discretion in disciplining students. They also suggest schools use a range of other methods to deal with students who have discipline problems. The report's authors say students who are suspended or expelled drop out in greater numbers and more often end up in prison.

"Everyone should be disturbed about the results of the report," said Mark Fancher, a staff attorney for the Racial justice project at the ACLU of Michigan.

In ann arbor public schools, for instance, black students make up 18% of the population, but they received 58% of the suspensions. By contrast, white students make up about 62% of the population and received about 24% of the suspensions.

The ACLU reports similar results for van dyke public schools in Macomb County, where black students make up 32% of secondary students but received 58% of short-term suspensions. White students make up about 58% of the population but made up about 35% of short-term suspensions.

Van Dyke Superintendent Kathleen Spaulding questions the numbers cited in the report, saying administrators need to review them for accuracy. But she said the district follows its student code of conduct and follows the Michigan law regarding automatic expulsion for certain events.

"We enforce it uniformly and fairly, regardless of the ethnicity of the students," Spaulding said.

She does agree that the state should loosen its zero-tolerance policies. State law treats a toy weapon the same as it does an actual dangerous weapon.

"It doesn't really give us much latitude," Spaulding said.

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Thursday, June 25, 2009 |

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