Rochester schools settle over discipline disparities
The Rochester Public School district has reached an agreement with the state's human rights department to tackle discipline disparities.
The agreement is meant to address the district's elevated rate of suspending and expelling students of color and students with disabilities.
The agreement lists an array of strategies, from more teacher training to community feedback sessions.
Superintendent Michael Muñoz says that some of these tactics are already in place. And he points out that the number of incidents and students referred for discipline is down as a result.
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"Even though we did see a substantial drop in incidents and number of students who were referred, we still have some disparities," he said. "We still have a lot of work to do in that area."
Phill Wheeler is a member of a community group formed to give the school district feedback on disparity issues. Wheeler has been in charge of analyzing data put out by the school district on discipline disparities.
He says the agreement appears promising, and that the district has already made progress in reducing the overall number of suspensions and expulsions.
"That's great. I don't want to diminish that," Wheeler said. "But there's still a lot of work to be done. There's still a disparity by race."
The Rochester district is among 43 flagged by the state human rights department for disproportionately disciplining students of color and students with disabilities.