Failure Factories: Some Children are Treated Differently

angry-640314_1920Charter schools are not the only schools that try to correct one problem and create several others.  Sometimes traditional public schools forget that all children deserve access to a quality education.  When some students are systematically treated differently, it is time to ask why.

The Tampa Bay Times has been following a tragic example of schools that appear to have been forgotten and children who have been ignored.

Subject: Failure Factories: 45,942 days lost

Special Report: Failure Factories
 
In the Pinellas County School District, black children are failing at higher rates than black children in virtually any other school district in Florida. But that’s not the only thing that sets the school system apart.

In the fourth installment of Failure Factories, in print and online today, we turn the focus to policies that keep black kids out of the classroom.

All of the other largest school systems in Florida are moving away from suspending students for nonviolent offenses like “defiance” and “not cooperating,” noting that such punishments fall disproportionately on black kids — and set all kids too far back in their schoolwork.

Pinellas agrees that keeping kids in the classroom should be a priority — but still reserves the right to throw them out for even minor infractions.

The result: Pinellas suspends black children at some of the highest rates in Florida.

Read the story, join the conversation and stay tuned for the next part of our series, coming soon.

Nathaniel Lash
Times Staff Writer

Posted in Florida, Public Education.

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