Black girls are more likely to receive harsher penalties, be suspended, and be treated as adults by school personnel
In May of the 2023-2024 school year, Crystal Tomkins, * a 14-year-old Black eighth grader at Ed Von Tobel Middle School in Las Vegas, got into a slapping, punching fight with another student over rumors that her former friend had ridiculed photos of Crystal’s 32-year-old brother who lives with cerebral palsy. “I cried. I was mad,” she said.
Crystal said the scuffle ended when “A security officer pulled me off her.” (Prior to 2023-2024 school year, Clark County School District School Police Department officers were only in the high schools, however, they are now in middle schools.) After gently admonishing her, the officer issued a “court order” for Crystal to appear before a judge. The court later revoked the order.
Subsequently, the school expelled Crystal and referred her to the Cowan Academic Center (CAC), one of three behavioral schools in the Clark County School District for “students who have a disciplinary infraction and have been referred there from home school.”
In a telephone call, Darren Tomkins, * single father to Crystal and her younger sister, Christina, * 13, expressed frustration over what he views as unfair treatment of his daughter. “Why wasn’t the other girl expelled?” He said that Crystal previously had reported threats made by the girl, but school administrators had not taken any action.
Tomkins opposed a CAC policy which prohibits students from carrying cell phones. Since Crystal must use public transportation to and from school, he asked, “What happens if she needs to contact her family in an emergency?” Although he does not want Crystal to attend CAC, he does not see another option.
The one negative review found for CAC was posted to Google seven years ago. K. Craven complained that “This school is supposed to be a behavioral school with ways to deal with unruly students, but they are so petty. Anything a student does is considered a rpc (required parent conference) offense and sent home for days. This school needs to reevaluate their program and the teachers that are allowed to teach there.”
In March 2024, 8NewsNow.com reported that Clark County School District (CCSD) officials were concerned about the increasing number of behavior problems at middle schools. Data showed “nearly 7,800 middle school students were suspended from August to December.”
Of equal concern to CCSD trustees was the suspension of “black (sic) and African American” students who “continue to be suspended at a disproportionate level compared to other groups.” School officials believed the pandemic may have played a role in the behavioral issues they have seen.
Crystal’s Story
On a Wednesday evening, a few days before Christmas in 2022, Catherine Tomkins, * 36, collapsed while getting out of the shower. Crystal and her three siblings, then ages 11,16, and 18, watched as paramedics attempted to revive their mother. When unsuccessful, they transported her to a hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead at 12:19 AM. Cause of death: sudden cardiopulmonary arrest.
Later in the school year, Crystal, still grappling with profound grief, has a fight with someone whom she had considered her best friend. (“My sister and I spent nights over at her house.”) Crystal explained that during a heated exchange the girl had remarked, “It’s not my fault that your mother is dead.” Neither girl faced disciplinary action from this confrontation.
Crystal expressed anger at having to attend CAC because she does not view herself as a troublemaker. “I have been described as bright, kind, and loving (and someone) you never saw mad.” Likewise, Christina will no longer attend school with her.
I asked Crystal, if she was a principal, how she might have managed these situations.
“I would have suspended both girls, or held a teacher-parent conference, or arranged a meeting with both girls to discuss the situation.”
Zero-tolerance policies
Merriam-Webster defines zero tolerance as “a policy of giving the most severe punishment possible to every person who commits a crime or breaks a rule.”
A Vera Institute for Justice (Vera) policy brief (pub. 2013) stated, “Zero tolerance school discipline policies—mandating suspension or expulsion of students for misconduct—have gained tremendous momentum in middle and high schools since they were introduced in the late 1980s ... Disciplinary systems today are much more formal … and severe punishments are applied more broadly, affecting more students.”
An edtrust.org article published in July 2023, noted that “Studies have found that (Black girls) are seven times more likely to receive more than one out-of-school suspensions compared to White girls of the same age. Black girls are also often adultified, which results in stricter punishments based on biased perceptions.”
The Vera policy brief concludes that “Certain facts are clear: zero tolerance does not make schools more orderly or safe—in fact, the opposite may be true. And policies that push students out of school can have life-long negative effects, perhaps severely limiting a young person’s future potential.”
The Ending PUSHOUT Act
On April 18, 2023, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) held a press conference to announce the re-introduction of the Ending Punitive, Unfair, School-based Harm That Is Overt and Unresponsive to Trauma Act of 2019 or Ending PUSHOUT Act (re-introduced again in 2021).
H.R. 2690 “requires the Department of Education (ED) to award grants to local educational agencies and nonprofit organizations ... for the purpose of reducing suspension and expulsion of students ….”
During an interview with Capital B, Pressley said, “This is a national crisis deserving of a federal response — especially within these culture wars and an emboldened white supremacy, where you see our classrooms being weaponized.”
Counseling Not Criminalization Schools Act
In November 2023, Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) introduced S.3214, which prohibits the use of federal funds for law enforcement officers in schools and establishes a grant program to replace law enforcement officers in schools with personnel and services that support “mental health and trauma-informed services.”
Alternative Approaches to Zero-Tolerance
Research shows that zero-tolerance policies can have negative long-term consequences for students. Less punitive alternatives that can keep students in school and engage them, include,
· Restorative justice addresses wrongdoing through positive interactions between the victim and offender.
Positive behavior incentives reward positive behavior and encourage students to collaborate with teachers to set school/classroom rules.
Peer-Peer counseling
Community service
Staff training
Investing in our children can save money and effort in the future and prevent students from ending up in the juvenile justice system.
In Crystal’s case, the question remains, what will be the long-term consequences of her expulsion? Will it dampen her desire to attend school? Could it lead her to eventually drop out?
Video extra: The Education Trust: Stop Criminalizing and Excluding Black, Latina, and Native Girls in Schools
*pseudonym
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