Figure is from the Forward Through Ferguson,“Falling Through the Cracks: St. Louis School Discipline and the Intersection of Race, Gender, and Disability” report.

Zero Tolerance Policies:

Issues with zero-tolerance policies are not isolated in the Los Angeles Unified School districts. These issues are nationwide and present themselves in cities such as my hometown, St. Louis, MO. Missouri is the tenth in the nation for the highest gap between discipline of Black and White students as of 2016 (ACLU-MO). In St. Louis, Black students and students with disabilities in St. Louis Metropolitan schools are subject to zero tolerance policies at higher rates. St. Louis organization, Forward Through Ferguson, analyzed the data from the 2015-2016 ACLU-MO report in a document entitled “Falling Through the Cracks: St. Louis School Discipline and the Intersection of Race, Gender, and Disability” (FTF).  They compared the likelihood of out-of-school suspension of each student demographic against White females without a disability. They found that Black girls without a disability were 11 times more likely to receive out-of-school suspension while Black girls with a disability are 18.1 more times as likely. Black boys without a disability are 18.3 times more likely and Black boys with a disability are 24.6 more times as likely to receive out-of-school suspensions.

District Example: Rockwood District

I searched further into the district-wide discipline data to find a more specific example of racial disparities in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. I focused on the Rockwood school District in the West County region of St. Louis. In this district, Black students accounted for 8.5% of the student population and 32.6% of in-school suspension and 38.3% of out-of-school suspensions. The disproportionate discipline in the Rockwood school district is evident of racial stereotypes at play that exacerbate the exploitation of Black lives with law enforcement.