A lawsuit filed Wednesday by parents of California students alleged school disciplinary practices disproportionately targeted and deprived Black and Latino children.
The parents blamed the state superintendent for failing to exert sufficient oversight and intervene in such situations. In their suit, they alleged students of color were overrepresented in suspensions, expulsions, and programs that transfer students to alternative schools.
"The students are the ones who lose because no one is playing that oversight role to ensure they're having equal access to education," plaintiffs' attorney Sahar Durali told The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
According to the complaint, for the 2018-2019 school year, Black students in the Sacramento City Unified School District received over 41% of suspensions while making up just under 16% of the population. That same school year, Latino students in the Riverside Unified School District received 71% of expulsions but made up 63% of the student body.
The suit also alleged that districts overly rely on deferral programs to alternative schools, which artificially keep expulsion numbers down because the state does not require public reporting of such transfers.
Plaintiffs said school districts have pressured some parents of students of color into signing waivers that give up their children's rights to expulsion hearings, allowing administrators to label those cases as "voluntary transfers."
Hiding expulsion rates disguised schools' "disparate treatment" of Black and Latino students, the suit alleged.
The plaintiffs included parents from Kern and Los Angeles counties, and an educational advocacy organization called the Black Parallel School Board. They have asked the court to enjoin the state to ramp up oversight of school districts and provide a more rigid framework for deploying suspensions and transfers.
"Our parents across the state feel that no one is watching these districts do the right thing," Carl Pinkston, operations director for the Black Parallel School Board, told The Times. "Our members feel frustrated, angry, and feel that the state of California has failed Black students."
The office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond declined to comment on the suit, which officials had not yet reviewed as of Wednesday.
