Pro Bono News
Black, disabled students disproportionately suspended in Virginia, report says
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
- Richmond-Times Dispatch
- Link: http://www.richmond.com
Black, disabled students disproportionately suspended in Virginia, report says
"Black students in Virginia were suspended about four times as much as Hispanic and white students in 2015-16, according to a new report out Tuesday.
In total, Virginia schools issued more than 131,500 out-of-school suspensions during the 2015-16 school year, according to the report from the Legal Aid Justice Center, a Virginia-based organization that works to fight injustice. The out-of-school suspensions were given to about 70,000 students, meaning the average student who was suspended was done so about twice in 2015-16.
The news of an increase in out-of-school suspensions comes after the state’s suspension rate had dropped for four years. The rate of suspensions dropped by more than 20 percent from 2010-11 to 2013-14, according to the report, before flat-lining in 2014-15. The number of short-term suspensions rose by 1.8 percent from 2014-15 to 2015-16, the report says..."