WIXLIB

Equal Justice?Disproportionate Racial and Ethnic DisciplinaryRates in Capital Region School Districts

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe most recent statistics published by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for CivilRights show that, in a large number of Capital Region school districts, students of color aredisciplined at higher rates—often much higher rates—than white students.These findings reflect a similar pattern found throughout the United States, in which Blackstudents are over-represented in suspensions even though research has shown that Blackstudents are no more likely to misbehave than white students.1These local disparities appear in all types of school districts: urban, suburban and rural.The analysis that follows documents this unequal treatment by assembling disciplinarystatistics for 75 school districts in the eight counties covered by the Capital Region Chapterof the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU): Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer,Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren, and Washington.These data are extracted from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CDRC), released every twoyears by the Department of Education.2The major city school districts in our region—Albany, Troy, Schenectady, SaratogaSprings—all exhibit higher rates of discipline for minority students than for white students.According to the federal statistics, for example, the 120 Black students in the SaratogaSprings school district are 9.31 times more likely to be suspended than the district’s 5,726white students. Smaller urban districts such as Hudson and Catskill also record higherrates of discipline for students of color. The demographic make-up of the district does notappear to make a difference when it comes to disciplining students of color atdisproportionate rates.Many suburban districts, including those often cited for their “good schools,”disproportionately discipline students of color. In the Burnt Hills/Ballston Lake district, forexample, the 38 Black students are more than ten times as likely to receive out-of-schoolsuspensions as the district’s 2,873 white students. Bethlehem, Niskayuna, Queensbury,East Greenbush, Schalmont and Mohonasen all exhibit suspension rates for their Blackstudents that are between four and ten times higher than for white students.Four suburban districts also exhibit disproportionate suspension rates for Latinx students(referred to in the federal data as Hispanic). North Colonie, Scotia-Glenville, Queensburyand Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk are two-and-a-half to seven times more likely to suspendLatinx students than white students.For a review of the literature on this subject, see: Gordon, Nora, “Disproportionality in student discipline:Connecting policy to research.” Posted online, January 18, 2018 research/12Access online at https://ocrdata.ed.gov

Given the segregated nature of our communities, many of the smaller, rural school districtsin the Capital Region have so few minority students that meaningful inferences cannot bedrawn from their statistics. For example, the CRDC reports that only two school districts inWarren County—Queensbury and Glens Falls—enroll more than 30 Black students andonly one district in Washington County—Hudson Falls—enrolls more than 30 Blackstudents. This lack of school diversity, in itself, is troubling.METHODOLOGYThe CRDC data provide a highly granular picture of the state of education across thecountry. This database covers the approximately 96,400 public schools and 17,300 publicschool districts in the United States. Every district submits hundreds of data points for itsschools, including such statistics as: access to advanced placement courses, results onSAT/ACT tests, staff salaries, types of pre-school programs, percentage of first-yearteachers, enrollment demographics and—most importantly for the purposes of this analysis—disciplinary outcomes disaggregated by race and ethnicity. The statistics upon which thisreport is based are drawn from the most recent CRDC, which covers the 2015-2016 period.We have focused our attention specifically on out-of-school suspensions (OSS), partlybecause they occur in such large numbers and are often the default disciplinary tool insome school districts. During the 2016-2017 school year alone, school districts in New Yorkstate handed out more than 66,000 out-of-school suspensions. Such suspensions are drasticsanctions in any student’s school career. Studies have shown that suspensions not only failto curb disruptive behavior, but also are related to future undesirable outcomes such asdropping out of school and becoming enmeshed in the criminal justice system.We did not examine detentions or in-school suspensions, since their severity and duration—even their definition—may vary from district to district.HIGHLIGHTS Districts with at least 30 or more Black students are, on average, 3.85 times(median: 3.57) more likely to suspend Black students than white students. Manydistricts far exceed the average. As noted above, in the Burnt Hills/Ballston Lakeschool district, suspensions are 10.12 times higher for Black students than whitestudents. In Saratoga Springs, such suspensions are 9.31 times higher; inQueensbury, 9.28; in Niskayuna, 6.46; in Schuylerville, 5.78; in Guilderland, 4.75,and in Bethlehem, 4.28. Of the 32 school districts in the Capital Region thatenroll at least 30 Black students, ONLY ONE—South Glens Falls—suspended white students at a higher rate than Black students.

Districts with at least 30 or more Latinx students suspend those students at a rate1.51 times higher (median:1.49) than white students. Districts with Latinxsuspension rates at least twice as high as those for white students include:Queensbury, 4.34 times higher; Scotia-Glenville, 3.25; Saratoga Springs, 3.03; NorthColonie, 2.71; Glens Falls, 2.43; Rensselaer, 2.29; Cairo-Durham, 2.11; Guilderland,2.06. Of the 36 school districts in the Capital Region that enroll at least 30Latinx students, only seven suspend white students at a higher rate thanLatinx students. Students who identify themselves as being of two or more races or ethnicities mayidentify and be perceived as students of color and may be the focus of disciplinarydisparities. In the 30 school districts that enroll at least 30 students of two or moreraces, such students receive out-of-school suspensions, on average, 2.43 times(median 2.04) more often than white students. Of the 33 school districts havingat least 30 such students, only two districts—Mohonasen and Glens Falls—suspend such students at rates lower than white students.Statistics Without Context Can Be MisleadingEven when a district does not exhibit substantial differences between the rates at which itsuspends students of color compared with white students, it is not always a salutary sign.Some districts may employ suspensions at high rates for all student groups. InSchenectady, for example, the suspension ratios of white vs. Black students, white vs.Latinx students, and white vs. multi-racial students are below the overall averages for theeight-county Capital Region. Black students are 2.11 times more likely to receivesuspensions than white students; Hispanic students are 1.33 times more likely, and multiracial students are 1.37 times more likely. These figures, however, mask the fact thatsuspension rates for all Schenectady students are extremely high: 13.69% of the district’swhite students received out-of-school suspensions in the 2015-2016 period; the rate forBlack students was 28.93%, for Hispanic students 18.17% and for multi-racial students18.70%. In sum, the district’s 9,549 students received 1,723 suspensions.Schenectady is not alone. Other districts in which white students have comparatively highOSS rates include Albany, Cohoes, Watervliet, Berkshire, Hudson, Catskill, Lansingburgh,Troy, Glens Falls and Hudson Falls. In such districts, disciplinary disparities betweenstudents of color and white students may not appear to be as great as they are in otherdistricts simply because the suspension rates for all classes of students are high.

RECOMMENDATIONSMerely confronting a problem—while a necessary first step—does not ameliorate it. TheNYCLU has the following recommendations for curtailing suspensions, decreasing racialdisproportionality in school discipline, and curbing the damage that suspensions inflict onstudents’ school careers: End Zero Tolerance DisciplineEvery student is different and every set of circumstances is different. Blanket zerotolerance policies compel principals to issue suspensions as their first and only option whenaddressing certain types of behavior. We recommend districts remove zero tolerancerequirements from their Codes of Conduct, ensuring that educators are able to exercisediscretion and kids are able to recover from their mistakes without automatically facingsuspension. Principals and teachers should be trained in proven-effective positiveinterventions, which should be attempted before and instead of invoking suspension. Use Positive Alternatives to Suspension when AppropriateTraining in restorative justice, positive behavior interventions, and conflict resolutionshould be mandated for all administrators, teachers, parent coordinators and schoolresource officers in order to create a culture of trust, support and empathy. Studies haveshown that students who participate in alternatives to punitive discipline, such as conflictresolution, counseling or restorative practices, are happier and more successful at school.These strategies work. After inaugurating restorative justice policies targeting suspension,rates of suspensions for Black and Latino students at Rochester’s East High School droppedmore than 75%.3Also, students need improved access to guidance counselors, social workers and/or schoolpsychologists so that valuable interventions can take place both before and after a studentbreaks a rule. Currently, there are thousands more law enforcement in our nation’s publicschools than social workers.4 In New York State, there are approximately 350 students toThe New York Equity Coalition, “STOLEN TIME: New York schools disproportionately impose out-of-schoolsuspensions on Black students,” 2018, p.3. Available online at: e.pdf3American Civil Liberties Union, “Cops and No Counselors: How the Lack of School Mental Health Staff IsHarming Students,” 2019. Available online at: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field document/030419acluschooldisciplinereport.pdf4