Over 2 Dozen MA Schools Reported Suspension Rates of Black Students Over 20% in 2018-19

In 2018, a federal report indicated that Black students in the United States saw higher rates of suspension, expulsion and arrest than white classmates. Massachusetts was just one state showing evidence of this disparity as during the 2018-2019 school year, 3% of all students and 2% of white students received an out of school suspension compared to 6.2% of Black students (and 5% of Hispanic/Latino students). I pulled the report on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's website and looked filtered by districts schools with suspension rates of 20% or more for Black students; below is what I found.

(Note: while Phoenix Academy Charter is considered a district by the state, it is a single school enrolling students in grades 9 - 12). 

School Name	Students	Students Disciplined	% Out-of-School Suspension
Adams-Cheshire - Hoosac Valley Middle School	17	6	23.5
Bellingham - Bellingham High School	21	6	23.8
Boston - Clarence R Edwards Middle	56	23	33.9
Boston - Community Academy	52	16	30.8
Boston - Excel High School	222	55	23.0
Boston - William McKinley	201	53	23.9
Brockton - Frederick Douglass Academy	47	18	29.8
Brockton - Huntington Therapeutic Day School	34	9	26.5
Fall River - Resiliency Preparatory Academy	50	14	28.0
Fall River - Talbot Innovation School	43	10	20.9
Lowell - The Career Academy	16	6	25.0
Lynn - Lynn English High	195	42	21.5
Medford - Madeleine Dugger Andrews	37	9	24.3
New Bedford - New Bedford High	401	105	24.2
New Bedford - Normandin Middle School	108	31	21.3
New Bedford - Roosevelt Middle School	146	37	25.3
New Bedford - Whaling City Junior/Senior High School	39	18	43.6
Phoenix Charter Academy (District) - Phoenix Charter Academy	29	8	27.6
Pittsfield - John T Reid Middle	86	22	25.6
Pittsfield - Taconic High	118	35	22.9
Rockland - John W Rogers Middle	44	10	22.7
Springfield - Impact Prep at Chestnut	62	16	24.2
Springfield - John F Kennedy Middle	110	39	34.5
Springfield - M Marcus Kiley Middle	174	37	20.7
Springfield - South End Middle School	29	9	27.6
Wareham - Wareham Senior High	61	24	32.8

In total, there were 26 schools that met this criteria with Whaling City Junior/Senior High School in New Bedford posting the highest suspension rate here at 43.6% that school year. At the district level, Phoenix Academy Charter which appears on the list above was the only 'district' with a suspension rate above 20%; there were, however, 31 districts with suspension rates for Black students above 10% including Bellingham, Clinton, Gloucester, Palmer and Wareham. 

As the conversation around systemic racism and black lives expands to continue the conversations  around education and housing and environmental justice, interest in the suspension rates of students of color in terms of consequences such as dropping out and the school-to-prison pipeline needs to consider how to address this issue as far as alternatives to this kind of punishment but more importantly, the specific factors that are resulting in this disparity in a way that makes school a positive experience for all children. 

Data from: www.doe.mass.edu

Statewide 3% of Public School Students Received an Out-Of School Suspension in 2018-19

According the the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's School Discipline report, 3% of students statewide received an out of school suspension during the 2018-19 school year. Of note 5,400 Massachusetts students were suspended for a physical fight, 5.126 for illegal substances, 941 for bullying and 71 for sexual assault. Suspensions for sexual assault in particular were up from 60 during the previous school year. 

At the district level, the Phoenix Academy Charter School in Chelsea had the highest out of school suspension rate at 16.8%. Students with disabilities at Phoenix had a 34.5% out of school suspension rate and African American/Black students 27.6%. 

In terms of days of school missed due to discipline, both Phoenix Academy in Chelsea and Phoenix Academy in Springfield saw 4.4% of students miss more than 10 days of school. Overall, most students in the state who were disciplined missed 1 - 3 days of school. 

Some districts also employ the use of in-school suspensions. For example, Four Rivers Charter School had a 38.1% in-school suspension rate last year. 

Just 9 districts reported data related to student expulsions: 

• Sizer School: 0.8%
• Community Charter School of Cambridge: 0.6%
• Atlantis Charter: 0.4%
• New Heights Charter School of Brockton: 0.2%
• Brooke Charter School: 0.1%
• Foxborough Charter School: 0.1%
• Hampden-Willbraham: 0.1%
• KIPP Academy Lynn Charter: 0.1%
• Maynard: 0.1%

Further another seven districts reported at least one student who was removed to an alternate setting. 

Statewide, the percentage of students receiving either in-school suspension or an out-of-school suspension remained largely the same from 2017-18 to 2018-19.

Source: www.doe.mass.edu

Fall River Still Suspending Disproportionate Number of Black, Special Needs Students

In December 2012, it was reported the Fall River public school district was suspending black and Latino students at disproportionate rates. Because of this the US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights launched an investigation into student discipline in the city. The investigated was prompted by a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which charged that the district's disciplinary practices discriminated against minority and special needs students. The most recent data at that time from the 2009-10 school year indicated that 25% of black students and 23% of Hispanic students received an out-of-school suspension compared to 13% of white students. Further, nearly half of all black students with disabilities were suspended that year. In all, "the district suspended more than 18 percent of all students in [2009-10], the state’s second-­highest rate among non-charter systems."

Fast forward to the 2012-13 school year and the most recent data indicates that 14.4% of all Fall River students were suspended during the last school year compared to 18% three years before. The suspension rate among African American/black students remains nearly the same at 24.2% and slightly lower for Hispanic/Latino students at 18.9%; the out-of-school suspension rate for students with disabilities was 22.3%. While white students did account for approximately 52% of out-of-school suspensions, the actual suspension rate among this population was just 12%. Further, white students currently make up 61% of Fall River's student population; African American/black students are 7% of the population and Hispanic/Latino students 21%. Fall River currently has the state's third highest suspension rate among non-charter systems behind Holyoke and South Middlesex Regional Vocational Technical School; overall it has the 20th highest suspension rate in the state.

Source: The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/state_report/ssdr.aspx 

http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/ssdr/default.aspx?orgcode=00950000&orgtypecode=5&leftNavId=12565&TYPE=DISTRICT&fycode=2013

Massachusetts Schools - Drug/Alcohol Related Suspensions

Starting with the 2012-13 school year, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education began reporting both in- and out-of-school suspensions by offense type. One of the categories listed was 'Illegal Substances' which included sub-categories that covered offenses such as tobacco use, sale of illegal drugs and alcohol possession among a few others. Here we look at some of the data around this for districts statewide. The total Massachusetts student population for this information was 979,613.

In 2012-13, there were 1,177 students suspended statewide for marijuana possession; this accounted for just 0.12% of the state's student population.

 

Of the state total, Boston had the highest percentage of students suspended for marijuana possession at 100, but these students made up just 0.17% of BPS's student population overall.

Statewide, 318 students were disciplined for alcohol possession.



607 students were disciplined for alcohol use.



319 students were disciplined for possession of other illegal substances.

When all drug/alcohol related categories are combined, only 0.43% of the state's student population was disciplined for this type of offense in 2012-13.

• 54.8% students suspended for illegal substance related offenses were Low Income
• 73.8% were Male
• 64.8% were White

All data taken from: www.doe.mass.edu 

Some Districts, Schools Reporting High Suspension Rates for Students with Disabilities

Here we looked at the new student discipline regulations expected to be enacted into law starting on July 1, 2014. There is particular concern regarding suspension rates in regard to students with disabilities. According to published reports, the Department of Education found that students with disabilities, particularly black children with disabilities, were nearly twice as likely to be suspended as non-disabled students. 

In Massachusetts there are some districts that suspended students with disabilities at disproportionate rates. Below are the districts with the ten highest suspension rates for students with disabilities during the 2012-13 school year. Statewide, the out-of-school suspension rate was 4.3%.

 *The Spirit of Knowledge Charter School voted to surrender its charter on October 29, 2013.

Below are the top ten individual schools with the highest out-of-suspension rates for students with disabilities.

Roxbury Preparatory Charter had the highest suspension rate in this category at both the district and individual school levels.

All data taken from: www.doe.mass.edu