Discipline Progress Report[/caption]In the three years since federal officials launched a civil rights investigation into student discipline practices in Fort Bend ISD, administrators said they have taken a number of corrective actions to ensure all students are disciplined in a fair and consistent manner.
“We are not where we need to be as an organization right now, but we are on the [right] path,” FBISD Superintendent Charles Dupre said. “We are not going to stop until we get there.”
In 2012 the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into whether FBISD punishes African-American students more frequently and more severely than other students in similar situations. The investigation is still ongoing and looks at data that pertains to student suspensions, expulsions and placement in the district’s alternative education program, Dupre said.
African-American students make up about 29 percent of the more than 70,000 students in the district. In the 2013-14 school year African-American students represented 60 percent of in-school suspensions and placements in the district’s alternative education program, and also represented
67 percent of out-of-school suspensions, according to data from the Texas Education Agency.
“We have a pattern of African-American students being disciplined at greater rates and out of proportion to other student groups,” Dupre said. “We have our corrective action plan and we are acting upon that plan now. We are acting on this because we take it seriously.”
Addressing discipline
Dupre, who became FBISD superintendent in April 2013, said he learned about the federal investigation his second day on the job and immediately initiated a comprehensive review of the district’s disciplinary policies and procedures.
His first action was to establish the Department of Student Affairs to ensure student-related policies are applied consistently across the district. In addition, the district implemented classroom and building-based programs where there are clearly defined expectations and consequences for behavior consistent at every school across the district.
The district also trained staff in a restorative discipline model designed to provide students with problem-solving skills that will help them to regulate their own behavior. Dupre said restorative discipline includes collaboration between students, parents and school staff to create a positive environment by focusing on student needs and causes of behavior and not just meting out punishment for misbehavior.
Another administrative goal is to find alternatives to discipline practices that result in removing students from the classroom.
“One of the things that we have been working with our principals and teachers on is looking at alternate ways of disciplining children without removing them from the academic environment,” FBISD Assistant Superintendent Marla Sheppard said. “We are working to find a balance so we can ensure that we find alternate ways to change student behavior so that they can remain in their academic environment.”
Morgan Craven, staff attorney for Austin-based advocacy group Texas Appleseed’s School-to-Prison Pipeline Project, said the use of research-based alternatives, such as restorative discipline models, are proven to be more effective than exclusionary discipline practices. She said research shows that when students are forced out of the classroom for discipline purposes the likelihood of such individuals dropping out, being held back or having contact with the juvenile justice system increases.
“The general practice of excluding kids from the classroom is problematic and I think that exclusionary discipline practices should be used as an absolute last resort, if at all,” she said. “The first thing should always be these alternatives and really exploring what is going on with the student and try and provide services and help for that student.”
As a result of the district’s actions, Dupre said the district has seen positive results. Suspensions decreased by 24 percent during fall 2014 as compared to fall 2013, and several secondary campuses have seen a decrease in the number of disciplinary actions removing African-American students from the classroom.
Larger issue
The disparate treatment of African-American students is not exclusive to FBISD and is an issue across the state, Craven said.
According to TEA data, for the 2013-14 school year, African-American students made up 12 percent of the state’s student population but represented 35 percent of out-of-school-suspensions, 26 percent of in-school suspensions and 25 percent of the students placed in disciplinary alternative education programs.
“Racial bias is a huge part of why these disparities exist and I think that study after study has shown that everybody has some sort of bias,” Craven said. “Even when they are really good people [who] are trying to do really good things, they still have this deep bias they may not even be aware of. So that is why training and making people aware that this is something they should focus on is needed.”
Craven said these numbers exist when discipline options are made at the discretion of local school administrators, and the race-based gaps disappear when school rules make punishments mandatory for certain conduct.
“It just shows that when school teachers and administrators have the choice to punish, that is when we see the differences that are super disturbing,” she said. “When they don’t have that choice, when it’s just. The rules are the rules, and if you do this you get punished, we don’t see those disproportionalities.”
Dupre said most teachers and administrators are shocked when shown data that reflects disproportionate discipline practices and are mostly unaware of the problem. However, he did not rule out the possibility of intentional discrimination by teachers or administrators.
“With 10,000 employees, we are going to have someone discriminating intentionally, we just are,” he said. “But that is not going to be acceptable in this culture, and we will purge that from our system if we ever see evidence of racism and discrimination that is intentional.”
