LAUSD needs to reverse its neglect of black students
LAUSD superintendent Michelle King in the LAUSD board room, in Los Angeles on January 12. (Los Angeles Times)
In the speculation about whether LAUSD superintendent Michelle King – a product of the district and its first black female chief executive -- will be a gentle consensus builder or a maverick innovator there has been little discussion about the fate of black children in the nation's second largest school district. This is unacceptable. As an advocate and mentor in South Los Angeles' schools, I continually see the impact of the district's gross neglect of black students' academic needs and social capital.
When black students arrive at LAUSD schools they can be confronted with teachers and administrators who view them as ticking time bombs, chronic screw-ups who are intellectually incapable of pursuing a college degree. When they look around their segregated campuses they see more police officers and military recruiters than do their white and Asian peers on the Westside and in the Valley. When they open their textbooks, they don't see their history or culture meaningfully represented.
Granted, the district has addressed some of the disparities black students face. After pressure from community activists, in 2013 LAUSD banned suspensions for willful defiance, discipline that had disproportionately affected black students. In South L.A. schools, a low level offense such as talking back to a teacher was much more likely to result in a suspension or even an arrest than it might at a white school. It's been well documented that "zero tolerance" policies lead to lower achievement for black students and "push out" (students failing to complete school) – factors that contribute to the so-called school to prison pipeline.By the beginning of the 2013-14 school year (the most recent available data), LAUSD could proudly announce that its disciplinary reforms had decreased suspensions overall by 53% compared to 2011-12. The district also achieved a steep drop in police citations for tardiness, absences and truancy, and an overall increase in its graduation rates. In 2012, 56% of the district's black students graduated; in 2014, 66% did.
Such gains, however, are not the whole picture. Despite the changes in the district's disciplinary policies, black students accounted for more than 30% of those suspended or expelled in 2013-14, even though they made up less than 11% of the district's population.
Similarly, while arrests and police citations decreased, nearly 95% went to students of color and 31% of those went to black students. In South L.A. schools, a culture of criminalization prevails. When students are more accustomed to seeing police than college counselors on their campuses, it sends a message that school is for containment rather than learning.
Even black students' improved graduation rates by no means indicate that the district is meeting their real educational needs.Last year, the school board had to retreat from a mandate that all its graduates, starting with the Class of 2017, earn a C or better in college prepratory classes required by the UC and Cal State systems. By the district's estimate, nearly 75% of the Class of 2017 (then in 10th grade) weren't on track to meet the mandate. In too many cases, the schools hadn't provided the courses or the necessary support.
Black students are deeply affected by the nexus of low college preparedness and low LAUSD needs to reverse its neglect of black students - LA Times:
