LOS ANGELES _ Three school districts in Barstow and Oroville discriminated against Black students and students with disabilities by excessively disciplining them, prompting the state to impose five-year corrective plans, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Tuesday.
The California Department of Justice found that Barstow Unified School District, Oroville City Elementary School District and Oroville Union High School District had a "systemic over-reliance on punitive, exclusionary discipline against Black students and students with disabilities," according to a news release from Becerra's office. It also found that the districts failed to respond adequately to complaints of harassment and discrimination, including in some cases the use of racial slurs.
"Our society is built on how we educate our children," Becerra said in the release. "When our schools use punishment discriminately, it has lasting consequences. And when our schools fail to adequately address bullying or racial harassment, we all suffer.
Among the department's findings were the following:
At Barstow Unified, with 6,435 students in the last school year, Black students and students with disabilities were more likely to be punished and suspended than students of others races and without disabilities.
At Oroville City Elementary, Black students lost days of school due to suspension at a rate 18 times the statewide average. Middle school students with disabilities received almost twice as many days of punishment as students without disabilities. The district north of Sacramento serves 2,739 students.
At Oroville Union High, with 2,237 students, Black students were 56% more likely to be suspended out of school than white students for the same types of behaviors.
The department began its investigations in May 2019. It would not comment on the original source of complaints about the districts.
The findings come about a year after California banned so-called willful defiance suspensions for disruptive behavior across grades K-8, though students may still be suspended for more serious actions. Research has shown that suspensions and the accompanying loss of instructional time disproportionately affect students of color, particularly Black students.
All three school districts have agreed to five-year corrective action plans, to be overseen by an independent monitor. The plans include revising student discipline policies, regularly analyzing student discipline data for evidence of bias, strengthening counseling services, putting in place systems to meet students' academic and emotional needs, and improving procedures for handling student complaints.
The settlements, announced Tuesday, follow a series of actions the California Department of Justice has taken against school districts that have implemented discriminatory practices. Last year, Becerra announced the state's first desegregation order in 50 years, in the Sausalito Marin City District. It also has reached settlements with the Stockton Unified School District and the Mojave Unified School District.
"What we're finding is that ... some of our schools and the personnel in our schools are not complying with the requirements of the law," Becerra said at a news conference Tuesday. "Most of the time it has a lot to do with resources. Oftentimes it has a lot to do with changing laws that folks aren't keeping pace with. And unfortunately sometimes it's that there is a negligence. ... Whatever the case, it's the job of the Department of Justice to ... make sure that every child is getting the education not just that they deserve, but that they're entitled to."
All three district superintendents said they were committed to ensuring equitable school environments. Superintendent Jeff Malan of Barstow Unified said the district would "leverage" its already existing behavioral interventions, extend bilingual services and recruit new talent. Superintendent Corey Willenberg of Oroville Union High said that, as a result of the settlement, his district had already modified its student discipline policy and employee training program.
