MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Black students represented 68% of all students with at least one suspension this year, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education Progress Monitoring Report.
CMS reported in the 2022-2023 school year from August to December they recorded 5,504 total students with at least one out-of-school suspension. Of the 5,504 students, CMS identified 3,751 as Black.
"We have to keep kids in school," Gregory 'Dee' Rankin, CMS Board Member, said.
As part of its student-focused governance model, the district has a guardrail to reduce out-of-school suspension disproportionately for Black students in all grades.
As of December 31, 2022, the report said Black students made up 36% of the overall student body. At the same time, 68% of black students received at least one out-of-school suspension. That's a 32 percentage point difference. The lower the percentage, the better the disproportionately rate.
CMS wants to reduce the current 36% rate by 4 more percentage points by end of the school year to 28%. By 2024 it wants it reduced to 23%. The end goal is to make the percentage of suspension closer in number to the percentage of students.
"While our out of school suspension disproportionality rates for Black students is down compared to pre-pandemic rates, there is much more aggressive work that needs to be done," Crystal Hill, CMS Interim Superintendent, said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools identified two main issues leading to Black students being suspended from schools at a higher rate:
- Not enough viable high-quality alternatives to out of school suspensions.
- Disciplinary decisions and consequences that were overly punitive instead of redemptive.
The district said it is seeing some success. The district said while it’s on track to meet its end-year goal, there’s still plenty of work to be done -- specifically for middle and high school students.
"[The] executive director of student discipline and behavior support and her team have established evidence-based trainings, resources and support systems," Hill said. "Beginning this week, we will put measures in place to drive the supports to staff and students where the support is most needed."
The three schools with the lowest disproportionality rate for elementary, middle, and high school were Winterfield Elementary, J.M. Alexander Middle, and Hough High School.
CMS staff identified several ways they are working to continue to fix this problem.
They include in-school intervention centers, expansion of short-term suspension sites, core behavior specialists, and behavior modification technicians assigned to each learning community to provide school-level support, integration of social-emotional learning into instruction, and ongoing professional development for principals, assistant principals, and deans.
The board will get another report at the end of this year.
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
