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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A state Department of Education report says African-American students in Louisiana public schools are suspended and expelled at disproportionately high rates.
The report says that, although black students made up 44 percent of public school enrollment in the 2013-2014 school year, they received 63 percent of in-school suspensions, 67 percent of out-of-school suspensions and 68 percent of expulsions.
In a story on the study, NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports (http://bit.ly/1u2IeyC) that state Sen. Sharon Weston Broome, a Baton Rouge Democrat, sponsored the 2014 resolution calling for the report. The data, including the racial disparity and the young ages of some disciplined students, are consistent with national trends that have led President Barack Obama's administration to call for a crackdown on overly punitive school discipline policies.
Overall, more than 72,000 of Louisiana's 715,000 public school students received in-school suspensions last year, and more than 61,000 were sent home, according to the report.
Also, almost 4,400 students in K-12 received in-school expulsion — attending a separate program on their home campus. The report said 441 students in 5th through 12th grades were expelled and sent to alternative schools.
More than 15,500 students were sent home before they reached sixth grade. That included 1,040 kindergarteners and 159 children in state-funded pre-kindergarten.
Most of the suspensions were for willful disobedience, fighting, treating authority with disrespect, disturbing the school or violating rules. Expulsions tended to be for more serious reasons: fighting, followed by drugs.
"While out-of-school discipline is necessary in some circumstances and should remain a disciplinary tool available to school officials, these numbers raise questions about the extent to which in-school discipline is being prioritized and whether out-of school consequences are used as a last resort," the state report said. "When students fall behind due to missed instruction and time spent away from the structure of the classroom, often their behavior will become worse, not better."
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Online:
The state's report: http://bit.ly/1wbrhME
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Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com
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