Students of Color Experience Tougher School Discipline

By Kirsten Bokenkamp Senior Communications Strategist As we discussed before in our blog series Breaking Schools’ Rules, students of color are disproportionally disciplined at school.  Last week, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released data that showed this unjust trend continues.  It found that African American and Hispanic children are more likely to get trapped in this school-to-prison pipeline.  Worse, studies have shown that students of color receive harsher consequences than their white peers for committing the same offenses. And it doesn’t end at the school house door.  Those disciplined in school are more likely to end up in the criminal justice system later on.  For example, students in Texas who were suspended or expelled just once were 2.85 times more likely to have a run-in with the juvenile justice system. We couldn’t agree more with the New York Times: instead of pushing kids out of school, we need fair and sensible discipline practices that keep kids in school.  That’s why the ACLU of Texas has fought, and will continue to fight, for policies that do not criminalize childish misbehavior at school.  Schools shouldn’t be the gateway to our bloated criminal justice system.  Instead, they should be positive learning environments where we use evidence-based behavioral models.  One approach to improving the atmosphere in schools is adopting Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which has been proven to improve student behavior, decrease ticketing and create a more positive school environment. Acting childish when you are a child should not be a criminal offense. As a state, and as a country, we need to work as hard as we can to keep our youth on track toward success.   Sending low-level, non-violent offenders to prison benefits nobody (except, of course, the for-profit prison industry). Want to do something to help seal the school-to-prison pipeline?  Join our Youth Rights Community Action Network and help ensure that all Texas students are educated, not incarcerated.