Key Points:
- U.S. Department of Justice report finds Wichita school district discriminated against Black students.
- Black students disciplined more frequently and severely, especially Black girls for subjective offenses.
- District to create new policies, eliminate seclusion, and improve treatment of students with disabilities.
A report by the U.S. Department of Justice released on Tuesday found the Wichita school district discriminated against students based on race and disability.
Following an investigation that covered the 2020-21 school year through the fall of the 2022-23 school year, the department concluded Black students were disciplined more frequently and more severely than White students. Black girls were particularly singled out for offenses such as insubordination.
The department said the district also inappropriately secluded and restrained students with disabilities.
“Black students inside our nation’s public schools should not have to face discipline or a referral to law enforcement because of their race. And students with disabilities should not have to experience the trauma of seclusion or improper restraint,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “Schools in our communities should not be a place of fear or mistrust.”
Just How Bad Was the Treatment of Black Students?
Examples of Disparate Treatment of Black Students in Report
Here are just a few of the examples of disparate treatment of Black students documented by the Department of Justice:
At one District high school, Black students were five times as likely as their White peers to receive a disciplinary referral and five times as likely to be suspended as a result of that referral.
At several middle and elementary schools, Black students were more than three times as likely as their white peers to be suspended.
Across the District, Black students were more likely than White peers to receive multiple disciplinary referrals, and to receive referrals for subjective offenses such as “disruptive conduct” and “insubordination,” which were not clearly defined.
Black students were more likely than White students to be referred to law enforcement for such subjective offenses as “disorderly conduct”
For Black girls, these differences in rates of disciplinary referrals were particularly pronounced, especially in the context of perceived insubordination and in dress code enforcement. At one District middle school, Black girls were referred for insubordination at more than 4.5 times the rate as White girls, and about 2.7 times the rate as black boys.
At one middle school Black girls were referred for dress code violations at more than nine times the rate as White girls, and more than 16 times the rate as Black boys.
Black girls were 3.5 times as likely as White girls to be described with stereotypical terms like “attitude” and “drama.”
District personnel could not explain this different treatment of Black students in interviews with DOJ. In one such incident involving a Black and White student fighting, the Black student was disciplined more severely than the White student even though the Black student was not more violent during the incident, neither student was injured, and the White student had instigated the fight by using a racial slur.
Black students in District high schools were referred to law enforcement for minor conduct even though similarly situated White students were not referred for similar conduct. This included a Black student being referred to the police for pushing another student to the ground during a game of tag in gym class, but no such referral being made when a White student in the same grade engaged in similar conduct.
DOJ’s investigation also revealed examples, often involving non-White students, of security officers escalating student behavior while responding to routine discipline matters. This practice resulted in avoidable referrals to law enforcement.
Settlement Agreement Reached
District officials said they don’t know what prompted the investigation but according to DOJ, the district fully cooperated with the investigation,
In a settlement agreement with the Justice Department, the Wichita district plans to create new policies and eliminate others, including its use of seclusion.
“The point for me is that we can and will do better moving forward, right?” Wichita schools superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said during a news conference Tuesday to discuss the report.
“We do have a challenge in front of us that we can improve. We can help solve this and become more equitable as a school district.”
The school district said it plans to unveil a new student code of conduct in January. It also plans to formalize a standard dress code.
The Justice Department said it reviewed thousands of documents and interviewed dozens of people. During a site visit in March 2023, it toured and interviewed administrators and staff at 17 schools. Those included schools with programs that serve students with disabilities, and schools with security officers.
Here’s a summary of the conclusions reached by DOJ:
- Black students were disciplined more frequently and more severely than white students who engaged in similar conduct. This was most evident for subjective offenses, such as “disruptive conduct” and “insubordination.” That was especially true for Black girls.
- Black students were more likely to receive disciplinary referrals and suspensions than white students. They also were more likely to be referred to law enforcement.
- Black girls were more often disciplined for being insubordinate and for dress code violations.
- The district lacked policies and procedures to ensure nondiscrimination.
- The district frequently relied on restraint and seclusion when responding to the conduct of students with disabilities. During the investigation, the district reported more than 3,000 incidents of restraint or seclusion. Of those, 98% involved a student with a disability.
- The district used restraint and seclusion when there was no safety threat, but to instead enforce school rules.
As part of its agreement with the Justice Department, the Wichita district outlined steps it will take to better serve students.
Those steps include:
- Ending the use of seclusion – where a student is placed alone in a room or area – in district schools.
- Not using physical restraint unless a student’s behavior poses a danger of physical harm.
- Implementing a new student code of conduct in January.
- Standardizing a new dress code for district schools.
- Not involving a school resource officer in an incident of student misbehavior unless there is a risk of physical harm, or a criminal offense is occuring.
- Creating an Office of Behavior Management Support and Oversight to better help students with disabilities.
