Kansas' largest school district was discriminatory in its discipline, Justice Department says
An exhaustive investigation into Kansas’s largest school district found it disciplined Black and disabled students more frequently and harshly than their white counterparts, the Justice Department said Tuesday, announcing a settlement agreement with the district.
An exhaustive investigation into Kansas’s largest school district found it disciplined Black and disabled students more frequently and harshly than their white counterparts, the Justice Department said Tuesday, announcing a settlement agreement with the district.
The Justice Department investigated Wichita Public Schools and “uncovered discriminatory treatment of Black students in the administration of discipline at multiple schools,” it said in a release Tuesday.
The probe into the district’s 87 schools and special programs from the start of the 2020-2021 school year through the end of the fall semester of the 2022-23 school year found Black girls faced “especially highly levels of exclusion” for dress code violations or “perceived insubordination,” and their behavior was frequently characterized using “stereotypical terms like ‘attitude’ or drama’” the release said.
The probe also found “evidence of racial discrimination” in referrals to law enforcement, and “a pattern of security officers responding to routing discipline matters and escalating those incidents, resulting in the unnecessary referral of Black students to law enforcement for routine or minor misbehavior."
The district also “repeatedly secluded and restrained” students with disabilities as punishment or in response to noncompliance with school rules and staff orders.
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