SBCSC: Year Ends & Decree Not Addressed

Well it still remains, since 1980, no school board has held any superintendent accountable to the Federal Court Ordered Consent Decree that calls on you to BE ANTI-RACIST. Instead you have enabled the status quo and mirror societal harm on black lives.

In reviewing the last five years of SBCSC discipline data, since 2020, you have been steadily suspending Black children 2.5 times more than white students...sitting at an approximate 63% suspension rate for Black children when they make up only approximately 37% of the district.

Why are you suspending and expelling Black children at least 2.5x more?

Why aren’t you sharing the data with the community on what exactly the behaviors are that you are seeing in your schools? & how you are intervening through CRPBIS/MTTS approaches?

There is no data that shows that Black children behave any differently than white children, I repeat…There is no data that shows that Black children behave any differently than white children so why are you suspending and expelling them 2.5x more?

There is data that shows, however, that white female teachers, like other teachers, can exhibit implicit biases towards black children that mirror societal stereotypes, manifesting as lower expectations, harsher discipline, and different grading, negatively impacting Black students' academic and social-emotional outcomes.

We live in a country where Whiteness is rarely named, where we don’t talk about the fact that 85% of the teachers are White (65% are White women). And that most people assimilate to whiteness because for most, that’s how you feed your family in this country, upholding whiteness.

But, you know these implicit biases that white female teachers & other teachers hold could be mitigated with self awareness…. There is data that shows this school board doesn’t require much self awareness from its teaching staff. I mean where’s the proof of your strategic plan to address implicit bias which is clearly evident in the data that shows up each year on the DOJ report? Because again, there is no data that shows that Black children behave any differently than white children.

This school board has allowed the status quo of a chronic 63% suspension rate for Black Children...2.5 times harsher punishment on black children than their white peers for at least the last 5 years with NO EVIDENCE TO PROVE WHY they should be treated more harshly, to persist.

This entire school board needs to educate themselves on how you are perpetuating racial discrimination at your finger tips and how you are currently doing absolutely nothing to resolve it.

Thank you.