Feds issue guidelines for school discipline, expulsion last resort

A civil rights investigation of student discipline at Seattle Public Schools continues. And, for the first time ever, the federal government has issued guidelines to schools for avoiding racial discrimination while handing down punishment.

The Seattle district’s own data revealed the racial disparity in which the number of African-American students suspended from school was more than triple that of white students. The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation last year, which continues today.

Seattle Schools report some progress.

“We see some decreases at different levels across the district but are we still with a disparate discipline rate? Yes,” said Pat Sander, executive director of coordinated school health at the district.

The Department of Justice and Department of Education jointly released its first guidelines for administering school discipline. The American Civil Liberties Union is hopeful that the document will “bolster the work that a lot of us have been trying to do in Washington around this issue,” said Linda Mangel at the ACLU of Washington.

“What the federal government has done in this guidance is highlighted what we know is a problem in Washington state and that is discriminatory application of school discipline policies,” said Mangel.

She said the guidelines call for promoting a positive school climate, establishing clear expectations and consequences and, critically, fairness in punishment.

“Because we’ll have students of color, in particular African-Americans, Hispanic and Native American students being punished severely, suspended or expelled for conduct that another student may be getting a letter in their file for,” Mangel claimed.

The guidelines suggest that suspension and expulsion should be a last resort, a policy embraced at Seattle Public Schools.

“When students are not in the classroom, they’re not receiving instruction,” said Sander. “Kids come back and their conduct generally escalates,” said Mangel. “It just doesn’t work on any level.”

The federal guidelines suggest school resource officers, cops in schools, “focus on improving school safety and reducing inappropriate referrals to law enforcement.”

“What’s happening is we’re seeing the criminalization of adolescent behavior,” said Mangel.

The district’s Sander says a thorough review of the federal guidelines is underway although she points out that Seattle Schools is already implementing many of the feds’ suggestions. At the same time, civil rights investigators continue to interview Seattle Schools staffers.

“The information that they continue to collect has not been shared with us as to what their recommendations might be,” she said.

Or when recommendations might be issued. But Sander said the district is anxious to find a voluntary resolution to the discrimination investigation of Seattle Public Schools.