State legislator: ‘No matter what, it’s unacceptable. You need to do better’
A recent report shows that black and Hispanic public school students in New Jersey were suspended at a “disproportionate” rate compared to their white counterparts.
And progressive legislators and interest groups are not pleased.
Black students comprise just over 15 percent of the state’s school population, but make up almost 30 percent of teacher/administrator discipline write-ups and police referrals, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Overall, nine percent of New Jersey black students were suspended in the 2022-23 school year, along with over four percent of Hispanic students. In contrast, just under three percent of white students and 1.2 percent of Asian students were suspended.
According to the report, the Collingswood and Haddon Township school districts — which have a 40 percent and 20 percent minority enrollment respectively — had the greatest racial discipline disparities.
The Inquirer notes the former had an incident with an alleged “white student union” around the time of this year’s spring break. Superintendent Fred McDowell noted the district has “restructured” its leadership team to “reimagine […] current practices and behavioral responses with a restorative lens.”
The paper also highlights a black mother who “fought” to get her daughter back into Kingsway Regional HS after a “long-term suspension.” It doesn’t explain why the girl was suspended, instead noting the mom “felt [her daughter] was excluded because she is Black.”
Mary Anne Degenhart of the group Embracing Race (which “seeks to gather people of diverse backgrounds, faiths, and life experiences to engage in authentic dialogue about racism”) said of the report “I can’t say I’m shocked.”
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The American Civil Liberties Union-New Jersey’s Joe Johnson claimed the discipline disparity is due to “racial bias.” He added “In an ideal world, the police would only be involved when they are required […] there is work to be done to determine why there are so many referrals.”
But Rancocas Valley Regional High School District Superintendent Christopher Heilig said the report “fail[s] to present a full picture of the climate and culture of every school.”
“We fear […] this data creates dangerous misperceptions about the state of many of our New Jersey schools and the intentions of our educators and, ultimately, threatens support for and progress of many initiatives in motion to address equity,” he said.
Democratic State Senator Andrew Zwicker (pictured), who sponsored the legislation mandating that districts report demographic-related discipline data, said “If you have wide disparities in discipline based on race, you have a real problem in your district […] no matter what, it’s unacceptable. You need to do better.”
Last year, Zwicker sponsored a bill that would deny state funding to schools which “ban” sexually explicit books like “Gender Queer.”
MORE: No, teachers are NOT racist because of disparate rates of racial discipline
IMAGES: Shutterstock.com; state of New Jersey
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