| Posted on Sat, Jul. 16, 2005 School suspensions scrutinized Report indicates black youth may be expelled disproportionately. By Jennifer L. Boen According to a just-released report, “State of Our Black Youth,” one of the greatest disparities between black and white children in Allen County is the percentage of those either suspended or expelled from school. A variety of data contained in the report on children in grades K-12 in 14 communities was gathered from various government and education entities by the Indiana Youth Institute at the request of the Indiana Black Expo, said Bill Stanczykiewicz, director of the Indianapolis-based institute. According to the Indiana Department of Education, there were 10,294 black students enrolled in Allen County’s four districts in 2003-04, and 15,481 suspensions and expulsions among them, meaning a large number were suspended more than once. In contrast, among the schools’ 36,824 white students, there were 13,276 suspensions or expulsions. “We’ve tracked suspensions by race and are always working to address the disparity,” said Debbie Morgan, spokeswoman for Fort Wayne Community Schools, which, along with East Allen County Schools, has the highest percentage of black students in the county. “We’re focusing on training of teachers and administrators to see that everyone is on the same page. We’re increasing some in-school suspension rates (as opposed to out- of-school suspension) and working on creating an atmosphere in which it will be difficult to misbehave,” Morgan said, noting on Monday the FWCS school board approved changes to the district’s discipline code. The 92-page “State of Our Black Youth” report was released Friday during a town hall meeting on black families as part of the Indiana Black Expo’s annual Summer Celebration in Indianapolis. Jon Ray, president of the Fort Wayne Urban League, said while the statistics are disturbing, “at least these numbers are out there and now we can do something about this.” Cultural training among school staff is crucial “but it isn’t something to do once. It has to be ongoing,” he said. Other key areas of disparity cited in the report: a lower percentage of black households who own their homes compared to whites, the higher percentage of black children living in poverty and the higher rates of unemployment among blacks. Despite Fort Wayne’s moniker as “The City of Churches,” Allen County has only three places of worship for every 100 black children, compared to the state average of 6 churches per 100 black youths. But the news for Fort Wayne wasn’t all negative. Areas of strength cited in the report: ♦Among fifth-graders in 2004, 52 percent of black children passed the ISTEP+ standardized test compared to the statewide average of 28.3 percent. ♦Nearly 65 percent of black students in Allen County graduating from high school in 2003 planned to attend a four-year college, compared to the state average of 46.2 percent. ♦Rates of physical and sexual abuse among black children in Allen County were lower than the state averages. These data, Stanczykiewicz said, can strengthen the Indiana Black Expo’s ability to “provide leadership for federal, state and local public policy solutions as well as for family and community solutions. One use of local data is to help community leaders to develop more funding to address the needs.” Ray said about information gleaned from the report: “Some of those suspicions about disparities were warranted. Statistics help us look at these things in real terms. “Yet it’s what is done with the data that counts. If we’re going to change the system and have productive adults, we’ll have to do something at the youth level.” In addition to Fort Wayne, communities included in the report were: Anderson, East Chicago, Elkhart, Evansville, Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis, Jeffersonville, Kokomo, Lafayette, Muncie, South Bend and Terre Haute. http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/12150465.htm |