In Alabama, Black students are nearly twice as likely to face every type of classroom removal as compared to their white peers.
During the 2018-2019 school year, Alabama students spent 203,465 days in alternative school. And, although Black students made up only 32% of the student population in 2019, they served almost 60% of those alternative school days, according to an AL.com analysis of the most recent year of data provided. White students, who made up about 55% of the population, served only 33% of the days given.
AL.com Education Lab reporter Savannah Tryens-Fernandes followed a high school senior who spent most of his year in disciplinary limbo over something he said he didn’t do. CJ, a student in Tuscaloosa City Schools, eventually withdrew and finished high school in a homeschool program.
Read the story: How Alabama’s ‘culture of removal’ takes a toll on Black students.
“I have been awakened by this incident with my son,” said his father, Cory Jones.
Auburn University Hannah Baggett and Carey Andrezejewski say alternative school isn’t necessarily an effective punishment or deterrent to future bad behavior.
Black children and white children behave and misbehave in similar ways, Andrezejewski said, but Black children tend to be punished more often and more severely, which can have long-term negative consequences on their success in school and life.
“The disparities are significant,” Andrezejewski said.
Watch Carey Andrezejewski describe her research into school discipline here.
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