2015 study on school punishment: black students get criminalized, whites get medicated & therapy

[Anonymous]

Fascinating. The school said my normal kid needed therapy and medication - apparently, he's just too white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of the above PLUS parent choices and level of involvement. Everyone blames schools, but the school is only half of the child's life (and half the problem). If the parent isn't advocating for their child, pushing for help and services, providing support at home, and seeking out therapies, the school can only do so much.

Way to ignore all of the systematic institutionalized racism that make that impossible for many families!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of the above PLUS parent choices and level of involvement. Everyone blames schools, but the school is only half of the child's life (and half the problem). If the parent isn't advocating for their child, pushing for help and services, providing support at home, and seeking out therapies, the school can only do so much.

Way to ignore all of the systematic institutionalized racism that make that impossible for many families!

way to enable poor parenting and place the blame on schools instead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what this research shows is that higher-poverty schools tend to rely on punitive discipline rather than behavioral interventions and supports. That's in line with my experience, as parent of a kid with documented diagnoses of ADHD, anxiety, and depression. My kid went to a Title I MS and was suspended from school multiple times, most of those suspensions stemming from behaviors well established by psychologist's reports and in the school's own 504 plan. The approach at such schools seems to stress quarantine of problematic behavior rather than understanding the behavior and addressing it.

I will echo an earlier post: teachers and administrators remain woefully under-trained in understanding how ADHD and other SNs impact on kids' behaviors.

Thank you...somebody with some sense.

First PP, what do YOU want us to do in the schools when your kid is acting out and disrupting a teacher's classroom? Is that fair to the other kids?

Yes, we can hire BSTs, given there's MONEY in the budget. We can pull the MHT together, too, but that's assuming that people on the team are readily available to process through your child's issues immediately.

I'd suggest placing your kid in a school where these protocols are BUILT INTO the daily school agenda. In a high school, for example, with classes of 29+ and an enrollment of 1500+ students, there simply isn't the person-power to address your high-needs child. The IEP and any manifestation meeting will protect your child from suspensions and expulsions but won't ensure that your child is REALLY getting the attentions s/he needs. I can count on my right hand how many cases were handled properly w/in the last year.

I'm not a therapist, and while I have contacted the PPW, school psychologist and counselors on many occasions, I can guarantee you that nothing was accomplished. absolutely nothing

Training isn't the issue with administrators. They know the deal - the protocol. But unless schools have built in wellness centers, don't think anyone is looking out for your kid. not happening - especially when your child is preventing others from learning

That's the sad truth.

[Anonymous]

The point is that a lot of behaviors should and CAN be prevented before that point with teacher training and if administrators follow proper protocols. Too many educators are lazy or have attitudes like yours which is why we have this problem in the first place. Why should her child have to go to another school?
I know several desperate parents faced with attitudes like this who pulled their children out of their schools to more restrictive environments they really don't need. It's a huge taxpayer expense that should be avoidable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what this research shows is that higher-poverty schools tend to rely on punitive discipline rather than behavioral interventions and supports. That's in line with my experience, as parent of a kid with documented diagnoses of ADHD, anxiety, and depression. My kid went to a Title I MS and was suspended from school multiple times, most of those suspensions stemming from behaviors well established by psychologist's reports and in the school's own 504 plan. The approach at such schools seems to stress quarantine of problematic behavior rather than understanding the behavior and addressing it.

I will echo an earlier post: teachers and administrators remain woefully under-trained in understanding how ADHD and other SNs impact on kids' behaviors.

Thank you...somebody with some sense.

First PP, what do YOU want us to do in the schools when your kid is acting out and disrupting a teacher's classroom? Is that fair to the other kids?

Yes, we can hire BSTs, given there's MONEY in the budget. We can pull the MHT together, too, but that's assuming that people on the team are readily available to process through your child's issues immediately.

I'd suggest placing your kid in a school where these protocols are BUILT INTO the daily school agenda. In a high school, for example, with classes of 29+ and an enrollment of 1500+ students, there simply isn't the person-power to address your high-needs child. The IEP and any manifestation meeting will protect your child from suspensions and expulsions but won't ensure that your child is REALLY getting the attentions s/he needs. I can count on my right hand how many cases were handled properly w/in the last year.

I'm not a therapist, and while I have contacted the PPW, school psychologist and counselors on many occasions, I can guarantee you that nothing was accomplished. absolutely nothing

Training isn't the issue with administrators. They know the deal - the protocol. But unless schools have built in wellness centers, don't think anyone is looking out for your kid. not happening - especially when your child is preventing others from learning

That's the sad truth.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP, and in point of fact I HAVE pulled my kid from public, for precisely the reasons given above: I have no confidence that teachers would follow their own protocols.

FWIW, my kid never disrupted teaching: the main offense was leaving the classroom w/o permission. Because of multiple/repeated offenses on this score, DC was given multiple out-of-school suspensions, but short of the 10-day trigger for a MDR. This despite the fact that DC has DOCUMENTED and ACKNOWLEDGED emotional and learning issues that contribute to DC's leaving the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP, and in point of fact I HAVE pulled my kid from public, for precisely the reasons given above: I have no confidence that teachers would follow their own protocols.

FWIW, my kid never disrupted teaching: the main offense was leaving the classroom w/o permission. Because of multiple/repeated offenses on this score, DC was given multiple out-of-school suspensions, but short of the 10-day trigger for a MDR. This despite the fact that DC has DOCUMENTED and ACKNOWLEDGED emotional and learning issues that contribute to DC's leaving the classroom.

I can think of few things more disruptive than a kid who walks (or runs) out of the classroom. As a teacher, that was the absolute worst - we are responsible for knowing where every child is at every moment and making sure they are in the building and safe. So when your kid gets up and leaves, it not only disrupts teaching but sends half a dozen people into a panic trying to find your kid and make sure they aren't hurting themselves, someone else, leaving the building, etc. That kind of thing can disrupt not just one class but your whole darn day. I used to spend my breaks and lunch period chasing down one kid who would always choose that time to leave. How would you like to spend all your breaks and lunch periods looking for your child? Sounds like your kid should have been in a more restrictive environment, like an ED center or similar, where they are equipped to handle that.

[Anonymous]

I hate to be the skunk and the garden party, but do studies like this control for like offenses? Perhaps one demographic group of offenders is committing a disproportionate share of more serious offenses. It would be like saying that is it is unfair that blacks are incarcerated in vastly higher numbers than whites for violent offenses in the District of Columbia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to be the skunk and the garden party, but do studies like this control for like offenses? Perhaps one demographic group of offenders is committing a disproportionate share of more serious offenses. It would be like saying that is it is unfair that blacks are incarcerated in vastly higher numbers than whites for violent offenses in the District of Columbia.

I've always wondered the same thing, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to be the skunk and the garden party, but do studies like this control for like offenses? Perhaps one demographic group of offenders is committing a disproportionate share of more serious offenses. It would be like saying that is it is unfair that blacks are incarcerated in vastly higher numbers than whites for violent offenses in the District of Columbia.

I've always wondered the same thing, PP.

They are both unfair. Whites commit the same number of crimes, per capita, but they don't get charged as often, or as harshly.

Illicit drug use among white youth is 11%. Illicit drug use among AA youth is 9.3%. Why are black kids getting locked up more?


Whites carry weapons more often (18% compared to 15% for blacks), but blacks get locked up for it more often.

Blacks are in fights around the same rate as whites (36% vs. 32%). Yes, blacks are fighting more often, but why are they getting arrested at 3x the rate as whites?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones/are-blacks-a-criminal-rac_b_8398.html

There are many, many decision points along the way between a crime's being committed and a person being arrested and convicted for it. To believe that racism never plays a role anywhere in this complex process is naive at best, disingenuous at worst.

[Anonymous]

Blacks are in fights around the same rate as whites (36% vs. 32%). Yes, blacks are fighting more often, but why are they getting arrested at 3x the rate as whites?

Why are they killing each other at much higher rates?

FWIW, I do not know the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Blacks are in fights around the same rate as whites (36% vs. 32%). Yes, blacks are fighting more often, but why are they getting arrested at 3x the rate as whites?

Why are they killing each other at much higher rates?

FWIW, I do not know the answer.

drugs/gangs...proportionally more poor blacks than whites are involved in gangs/drugs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP, and in point of fact I HAVE pulled my kid from public, for precisely the reasons given above: I have no confidence that teachers would follow their own protocols.

FWIW, my kid never disrupted teaching: the main offense was leaving the classroom w/o permission. Because of multiple/repeated offenses on this score, DC was given multiple out-of-school suspensions, but short of the 10-day trigger for a MDR. This despite the fact that DC has DOCUMENTED and ACKNOWLEDGED emotional and learning issues that contribute to DC's leaving the classroom.

I can think of few things more disruptive than a kid who walks (or runs) out of the classroom. As a teacher, that was the absolute worst - we are responsible for knowing where every child is at every moment and making sure they are in the building and safe. So when your kid gets up and leaves, it not only disrupts teaching but sends half a dozen people into a panic trying to find your kid and make sure they aren't hurting themselves, someone else, leaving the building, etc. That kind of thing can disrupt not just one class but your whole darn day. I used to spend my breaks and lunch period chasing down one kid who would always choose that time to leave. How would you like to spend all your breaks and lunch periods looking for your child? Sounds like your kid should have been in a more restrictive environment, like an ED center or similar, where they are equipped to handle that.

I think that you are actually supporting my point about disciplinary responses being the first choice at high-poverty schools. My family was never offered the option of an ED center. In fact, we had to fight for 3+ years to get our Title I high-poverty school to acknowledge that DC qualifies as ED/OHI.

At high-poverty schools like the one we've left, teachers are often inexperienced/undertrained in classroom management, especially for SN students, and they follow the lead of admin in emphasizing discipline over de-escalation. Those are factors that contribute to the differences in treatment that the study we are talking about has found: I am simply suggesting that the SES of students and the affluence of the district factors into the differential treatment.

[Anonymous]

One need only study the emergence and disappearance of the American Indian in the New World (America) to understand present day institutional racism dating back at least 5 centuries for Black Americans -- an imposed calculated strategy from poor education/schools, nutrition, homes (female-male sociological imbalance), imprisonment, and murder by the Police. Nothing new here!

"2015 (1915, 1815, 1715, and 1615) study on school punishment: black students get criminalized, whites get medicated & therapy"

[Anonymous]

Precisely. What is happening to Black Americans is similar to what happened to native Americans...pure, systematic, calculated, longstanding, societal genocide -- nothing short of an holocaust.