Black students at Cape more likely to be suspended

African-American students are disciplined up to four times more than their white classmates in Cape Henlopen schools, according to new statistics.

Cliffvon Howell, a juvenile justice specialist in Wilmington, presented the data to the Cape Henlopen school board April 26 at Mariner Middle School.

Also a Cape graduate, Howell serves on the district’s minority community liaison committee, developed after an October 2017 forum at Friendship Baptist Church in Lewes. The forum featured Cape employees on the panel, and Cape Superintendent Robert Fulton attended to address community concerns. 

Howell said during the forum, recurring issues emerged regarding school discipline for minority students and Cape’s lack of minority teachers. Representatives from local nonprofits, faith-based organizations, fraternities and sororities, and at-large members joined district staff to develop strategies to resolve these issues.

“Mr. Fulton indicated he would be willing to work with members from the community to address the concerns,” Howell said. 

As a juvenile justice specialist, Howell conducts statistical analyses on juvenile justice issues.

“In my business, I have to measure how frequently African Americans are contacted by law enforcement and how much more likely African Americans and other minorities are to be incarcerated as juveniles,” he said. “That generates something known as the relative rate index, which takes a look at raw data and also formulates a direct comparison to the percentage of population for that particular group.”

For example, 10 African American and 21 white elementary students received out-of-school suspensions in the 2016-17 school year. 

“If we look at the raw data, we think white students are suspended at two times the rate of African-American students. But what you have to do is dig deeper in the data,” he said. “When we put these numbers through the relative rate index, now we see African Americans are suspended at almost two-and-a-half times the rate of white students. If we were just looking at the raw data, we wouldn’t see that.” 

Using the relative rate index of student discipline data in Cape elementary schools for that time period, African-Americans received in-school suspensions nearly four times more than white students, and detention over three times more. The rate takes into account the total number of African-American students and white students enrolled in district schools.

Cape’s African-American middle school students received out-of-school suspension nearly four times more than whites, in-school suspensions over two times more, and detention three times more. African-American high schoolers received out-of-school suspensions two-and-a-half times more, in-school suspensions nearly three times more, and detention twice as often as their white classmates.

Howell said nationally, African-American students are disciplined four to five times more than whites. Cape school board member Alison Myers says she’s glad Cape ranks better than the national average, but changes clearly need to be made.

“Any time disparate treatment exists, you want to take a look at it. You want to see why that’s happening,” he said.

Fulton proposed forming a school climate committee to analyze the disparity.

“I think particularly at the elementary level, we we need to take a closer look at our coding for discipline issues,” Fulton said. “It is what it is now, but what’s important is where we go from here and what kind of conversations occur to take a look at what’s going on.”

Howell said based on factors outside the district’s control, “the numbers may never be equal, but the goal has to be that the numbers are equal.”

Cape’s elementary students represent the district’s largest population segment at approximately 2,750 students. With only 1.1 percent of that population receiving out-of-school suspensions, Myers said, “If our positive behavior supports are working for 99 percent of the students at that level, I am very happy!”

Myers believes elementary students should be suspended when warranted. “There must be a standard of behavior students have to adhere to. Learning there are consequences to your actions is an important lesson. We are doing a good job, but like anything, there is room to improve.”

Cape human resources supervisor Ed Waples, who also serves on the minority community liaison committee, says some schools have only one minority teacher.

According to Delaware Department of Education school profiles website, Cape has 436 teachers. Of those, 408 are white, and 15 are African-American - less than 4 percent of the total staff. Two teachers are Asian and one is American Indian.

To increase teacher diversity, the committee developed recruitment goals including strengthening relationships with historically black colleges in the Mid-Atlantic and encouraging Cape paraprofessionals to use the department’s Alternative Routes to Certification program. Waples could not be reached to clarify Cape’s hiring goals per school.

Waples says research shows minority teachers leave the profession as often as new teachers, and it is critical to develop programs addressing their needs.

“If we hire them and they’re leaving, we’re just spinning our wheels,” he said.

The public is invited to the committee’s next meeting at 7 p.m., Monday, May 14, at Friendship Baptist Church, 500 W. Fourth St., Lewes, for a progress update.