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Policy protecting minority students by limiting suspensions scrapped by Trump administration

By Tina Terry, wsoctv.com
By Tina Terry, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Protecting minority students by limiting suspensions was part of a federal policy local schools were forced to follow since 2014.

However, in the past month, the Trump administration got rid of the policy.

Former teacher Annette Albright said she will never forget when she was attacked by students at Harding High School in 2016. She said the attack was captured on video.

Some of those students, she said, had a history of discipline issues.

“I look at that video and it's still unbelievable that it happened,” Albright said.

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Albright said the discipline policy implemented during the Obama administration created an environment where students were in control.

“I would have kids tell me, ‘You can't suspend me,’” Albright said.

The 2014 policy aimed to make sure minority students weren't unfairly punished because of their race. It encouraged schools to seek alternatives to suspending and expelling students.

“It was strictly, if you don't get suspension rates down, you're not getting federal funding,” Albright said.

Albright and other local educators testified in Washington, D.C., about the policy.

Now, the directive by the Trump administration has repealed the policy.

It quotes local educator Judy Kidd, with the Charlotte Teacher’s Association, who said the policy “makes school staff less likely to refer matters to law enforcement."

Critics of the change say minority students could suffer.

Data from 2018 shows there were 10,129 suspensions in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools through October. More than 7,000 of those students were black and about 1,600 were Hispanic.

Albright said the old policy wasn't the solution.

“By removing this policy, you're giving back power to superintendent and officials in the district,” Albright said.

Even though the policy has been eliminated, a federal commission on school safety says the Department of Justice should continue to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places.

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