Under the auspices of "zero tolerance" provisions, black, Latino and disabled student are being targeted for suspension, according to a new report by the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which analyzed aggregate data from each of the state's 500 school districts.
While black students make up just 13.6 percent of Pennsylvania's student population, they were received 48.25 percent of out-of-school suspensions. Of all black students, 17 percent have been suspended at least once. That's a whopping five times the rate of white students.
Pennsylvania has one of the highest Latino suspension rates in the country--with 1 in 10 students receiving suspension.
And even disabled students are being disproportionately targeted, with double the suspensions of non-disabled students--11.1 versus 5.7 percent.
A massive 22 percent of black disabled students were sent on out-of-school suspension, topping all other categories.
"Our report is intended to spark discussion within school communities and policy-making circles about what works best to create a healthy and safe school climate, not to point fingers," wrote the ACLU's Harold Jordan, author of the report. "A critical examination of school discipline data and discipline practices is a first step."
Suspensions overall have skyrocketed with the implementation of zero tolerance policies and now black, Latino and disabled students are being suspended at an unfairly high rate under zero tolerance's auspices.
Tell Pennsylvania Schools to remove these zero tolerance policies if they cannot be fairly implemented.
Dear Madam,
We the undersigned ask that you remove or revise zero tolerance in Pennsylvania Schools.
Under the auspices of "zero tolerance" provisions, black, Latino and disabled student are being targeted for suspension, according to a new report by the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which analyzed aggregate data from each of the state's 500 school districts.
While black students make up just 13.6 percent of Pennsylvania's student population, they were received 48.25 percent of out-of-school suspensions. Of all black students, 17 percent have been suspended at least once. That's a whopping five times the rate of white students.
Pennsylvania has one of the highest Latino suspension rates in the country--with 1 in 10 students receiving suspension.
And even disabled students are being disproportionately targeted, with double the suspensions of non-disabled students--11.1 versus 5.7 percent.
A massive 22 percent of black disabled students were sent on out-of-school suspension, topping all other categories.
"Our report is intended to spark discussion within school communities and policy-making circles about what works best to create a healthy and safe school climate, not to point fingers," wrote the ACLU's Harold Jordan, author of the report. "A critical examination of school discipline data and discipline practices is a first step."
Suspensions overall have skyrocketed with the implementation of zero tolerance policies and now black, Latino and disabled students are being suspended at an unfairly high rate under zero tolerance's auspices.
Remove these zero tolerance policies if they cannot be fairly implemented.
