Drummond: Oakland schools hope to reduce suspensions of black boys
Posted: 10/15/2012 04:40:35 PM PDT
Updated: 10/16/2012 05:12:04 AM PDT
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Anthony Smith, Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District, speaks during an Oakland...
How is this possible?
One out of every three black boys in middle school in the Oakland public school system was suspended during the 2010-2011 academic year for bad behavior.
African-American boys make up 17 percent of Oakland public school students but were a whopping 42 percent of those suspended.
Those jarring findings released by the Urban Strategies Council in May led to a federal investigation of the Oakland school district for potential civil rights violations. As a result, Oakland school officials have agreed to allow federal monitoring of their efforts to reduce out-of-school suspensions of African-American students -- thus avoiding a federal lawsuit.
One would think that out-of-school suspension would be a course of last resort -- reserved for only those students who commit the most egregious offenses
