New Federal Discipline Guidelines and the School-to-Prison Pipeline

We would like to welcome you to 2014 and share with you some important news regarding the School-to-Prison Pipeline (our current issue on the subject can be found here). The Obama Administration has released new federal discipline guidelines that attempt to address racial discrimination in the administration of primary and secondary school discipline. Extensive research conducted by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice has shed new light on this troubling issue and established that there is clearly a racial tenor to the School-to-Prison Pipeline. African-American students without disabilities are more likely to be expelled or suspended than their white peers by a more than three-to-one ratio (Department of Justice et al, 2014, p. 3). More than half of all students arrested in schools or handed over to police for disciplinary action are Hispanic or African-American (p. 4). As the Departments of Justice and Education frankly admit in their 23-page letter addressed to practitioners, these disparities in the meting out of school-related discipline are "not explained by more frequent or more serious misbehavior of students of color" (p. 4). Unintentionally or not, schools are engaging in racial discrimination.

The new guidelines categorize racial discrimination in school discipline under the headings of "Different Treatment" and "Disparate Impact." Different treatment includes not only straightforwardly discriminatory discipline policies, but also discriminatory enforcement of disciplinary policies that are race-neutral on the books (e.g. if it could be established that a school gave African-American students the full measure of disciplinary action attached to a specific infraction whereas white students routinely received less severe discipline for the same infraction, this would constitute different treatment.) Determining disparate impact is a bit more complex, as it involves a judgment of ostensibly race-neutral policies based on their impact as well as their necessity in meeting educational goals. To establish discrimination in this case, investigators would have to find that either: (1) a policy was having a disparate impact on one racial group over others and did not meet a specific educational goal (e.g. if a school policy penalized students for wearing hats in class, this could not be reasonably connected to a specific educational goal, and it were established that Hispanic students were substantially more likely to wear hats in class than students of other races, this would constitute discrimination by disparate impact); or (2) that even though the policy in question did meet a specific educational goal, there were alternative policies available to the school that would also meet this goal without impacting or having less of an impact on a particular racial group disproportionately impacted by the current policy.

Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that “A routine school disciplinary infraction should land a student in the principal’s office, not in a police precinct" (NYT Editorial Board, 2014). It is encouraging to see the government taking action on racial discrimination in schools, and we can hope that this will also constitute a step toward dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

Find the full text of the Departments of Justice and Education's letter here:

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.pdf

Works Cited

Department of Justice and Department of Education. (2014). Dear Colleague Letter on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.pdf

New York Times Editorial Board. (2014). The Civil Rights of Children. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/opinion/sunday/the-civil-rights-of-children.html?_r=0

Curtis Acosta Returns to Western Washington University to Give Keynote Address on January 25th

Educator Curtis Acosta will be the keynote speaker at a symposium titled “From ME 2 WE. Creating a Mentoring Community” on Saturday, Jan. 25, at Western Washington University.

The symposium is open to the public and will be held from 8 a.m. until noon in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room on a first-come, first-served basis. A $10 donation is suggested, though not required. Educators and all interested in creating a community in which mentoring is important are encouraged to attend.

The symposium will open with a welcome at 8 a.m. followed by a presentation by lead mentors with Compass 2 Campus from 8:10 to 9 a.m.; a talk by Veronica Velez, WWU assistant professor of Secondary Education, from 9:10 to 10 a.m.; the talk by Acosta at 10 a.m., and then a participant raffle and closing at noon.

The symposium is sponsored by Western’s Compass 2 Campus program, the WWU Center for Education, Equity and Diversity and Western’s Diversity Fund.

Curtis Acosta has taught high school in Tucson for nearly 20 years and is an award-winning educator. He is founder of the Acosta Latino Learning Partnership, which is committed to helping educators and education professionals create dynamic learning environments, pedagogy and curriculum that will inspire every student to thrive. They strive to mentor educators through personal, detailed and interactive professional development that leads to transformative teaching and learning practices.

Compass 2 Campus, a proactive effort that sends trained WWU student mentors into schools, is in its fifth year at Western. The program offers academic mentoring in areas that lack funding in the elementary, middle and high schools throughout Whatcom and Skagit counties. The goal is to establish a connection between schools lacking funds and college students to increase graduations rates and inspire students to further their education.