by Diana Tate Vermeire

Schools are failing to graduate students at an alarming rate, particularly students of color.  The underlying causes of our nation’s failure to graduate its youth are complex and varied.  However, it is clear to me and my colleagues at the ACLU of Northern California that a leading factor is the phenomenon of students being subject to school bias and subsequent pushout from school.  The failure to address bias and harassment within school creates an environment that serves to alienate and ostracize students, particularly students of color and other vulnerable populations.  These experiences lead to a lack of engagement, misbehavior, exclusionary discipline, and ultimately alienation to the point of students choosing to leave school or being forced out.  For students of color, many times unaddressed bias and harassment can lead to disproportionate discipline that serves to force students out of school.

A recent incident at a school in Northern California illustrates the problem of school pushout.  A Palestinian-American high school senior had been subject to verbal harassment and taunts for several years due to his nationality and religion.  Last fall, the student was surrounded by members of the football team and a fight broke out.  One of the football players suffered dental and facial injuries.  Despite the years of harassment that led to this instance of mutual combat, the Palestinian-American student was expelled and subject to criminal prosecution.  The harassment alone could have easily led the student to leave school for fear of his personal safety.  However, he stayed only to be forced into a situation where self-defense eventually led to his exclusion from school and the denial of his right to an education.
Students who drop out or are pushed out of school have fewer life opportunities, including lower earning ability, higher rates of unemployment, and overrepresentation in the criminal justice system.

In order to create inclusive school environments, the problem of school bias and pushout and its correlating solutions must be framed, considered, and solved as a whole, recognizing the similarities and difference of the varied populations that comprise our schools.
Developing strategies to combat the phenomenon school pushout requires understanding the matrix of issues that contribute to the problem and employing solutions that are integrated and comprehensive.  In developing solutions, advocates must remain cognizant of the fact that a solution for one population may negatively impact another vulnerable population.  For example, the dialogue around needing to make schools safe for all students may negatively affect attempts to reduce racial discrimination in schools.  The language of safety easily plays into the widespread misperception – based on stereotypes and personal prejudices – that students of color are often the individuals who make schools unsafe.  Thus, developing strategies to reduce and eliminate school bias and pushout also requires the creation of a public school narrative that builds consensus around providing educational opportunity for all school children and making schools inclusive and welcoming for each.

Collaboration
Sustainable solutions to school problems necessitate engaging all stakeholders, including community members, school board members, school administrators, teachers, parents, and students.  Bringing together these stakeholders – as well as building coalitions among dedicated organizations – is critical to making sure that school change not only occurs, but that it lasts.  Developing solutions together instills a sense of responsibility for all school community members to uphold the values of respect and dignity.

Establishing the expectations, policies, and practices for the whole school in collaboration with all school community members can have a tremendous impact on altering a hostile school environment.  Such change does not require changing individuals’ core beliefs, but only changing behavior to ensure that everyone feels welcome and included.  For example, engaging all school stakeholders in deciding how to effectively address discipline issues in a fair and equitable way allows for greater accountability on the part of students, teachers, and administrators.  A disciplinary system that includes the input of students, parents, and teachers is far less likely to result in students being unfairly or arbitrarily suspended or expelled.  Accordingly, a fair process must involve engagement, participation, and clarity of expectations.

Multiple Strategies
Addressing school bias and pushout not only requires collaboration among all stakeholders, but also requires creativity and the use of multiple approaches to combat the problem.  In order to create meaningful change, a multi-tiered approach employed by some or all of the larger community is necessary and may include public education, youth leadership development, community organizing and movement building, legislation, and possibly litigation.

A public education strategy is perhaps the best way to reach all stakeholders.  Media campaigns can help promote a realistic view of children by presenting children as real people, telling young people’s stories, listening to their voices, and thereby counteracting many of the negative images of youth currently projected by the media.  Incorporating individual stories is essential as a compelling means to shift people’s thinking about young people and to increase public investment in creating schools that serve all students and thereby society as a whole.  Parents often view school improvement as a zero sum game.  Therefore, a media campaign should aim to create a broader view of public schools and their improvement, including students, who are a critical voice in reforming public education.

Securing student investment is essential to creating a welcoming and robust school environment.  Schools need student leadership to move issues forward because students are integral to transforming how student bodies relate.  For example, the Restorative Justice model provides a method to support student interaction.  The model encourages students to meet face-to-face and resolve conflicts by acknowledging what they did, recognizing the impact of their actions, and addressing the harm their actions caused.  This method has been found to be quite effective in schools as a means of restoring the school community.  It provides a positive alternative to top-down solutions to school problems and discipline, which typically get poor results.  It enables students to be active participants in developing solutions and creates a more positive school environment.  In order for models such as Restorative Justice to work, students and teachers should be receiving training in the specific intervention tools and students should be given the opportunity to practice those tools while being supported by school administration.

Building a movement among community members – not just students, parents, and school officials – is a vital part of sustainable school change.  Communities as a whole must be invested and must find common interests and concrete goals to organize around.  Creating a community-based coalition serves the dual purpose of fostering sustained investment in schools a well as increasing the number of individuals working toward a common goal.  Community organizing and movement building necessitates defining: (1) the goals, (2) how they will be accomplished, and (3) what is needed to achieve the desire outcome.  These efforts should not overlook the most obvious stakeholders, such as teachers and students, who are able to build from within.

Legislation is powerful tool when there are barriers to positive school change that are created or facilitated by state law or by a lack of state mandates.  For instance, if school districts experience disproportionate discipline on the basis of race, it is essential that they collect disciplinary data disaggregated by race in order to evaluate and solve the problem.  State law can be passed to mandate the collection of this imperative data and provide the necessary resources for doing so.  Further, state law can be used to address disproportionate school discipline by narrowing or eliminating the discretion within school disciplinary codes that lead to disproportionate discipline.  Legislation is most valuable when it not only addresses the necessary changes in policy but also builds in accountability mechanisms for implementation, to ensure the intended results.  This prevents unintended consequences like reincorporating “zero tolerance” back into well-intentioned efforts like anti-bullying legislation.

The problem of school bias and pushout is prevalent but not insurmountable.  Despite its widespread existence, the phenomenon can be overcome if students, parents, teachers, administrators, advocates, and communities rise to the challenge of creating systemic change to create welcoming and inclusive schools.  Every child has the right to “be a kid” and to enjoy that right while still receiving an education.  As a society, we have a responsibility to educate all of our children and to do so in a manner that allows each child dignity.

Diana Tate Vermeire is the Racial Justice Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.