It’s one of those frustratingissues that lingers on in our schools: racial disparity when it comes to discipline. And its resultant role in suspensions, expulsions and drop-out rates. There’s data that suggest racial bias.
What to do besides appoint task forces, hold workshops, convene “stakeholders” and maybe mandate a “student bill of rights”?
In Hillsborough County, the new school year will find representatives of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on site interviewing county staff and possibly students. Maybe they’ll unearth examples of conscious and unconscious bias toward minority students. Maybe they’ll uncover cultural impediments in the teaching and learning dynamic.
But as a former teacher–in Pennsylvania as well as Hillsborough County–I can attest to one factor that is a constant–and trumps all others. Parental involvement–and cooperation.
You don’t get it–you don’t change anything.