by Eve Schlegel ‘20  

During a school board committee meeting shortly before the closing of schools due to the coronavirus, MCPS released data that shows black and Hispanic are three times more likely to be suspended as their peers. According to the Bethesda Magazine article, more than 80 percent of all suspensions over the past three years were of black and Hispanic students, which is a dramatic contrast compared to white students. 

“We realize we have some work to do,” said Kevin Lowndes, director of the MCPS Office of Special Education.School board member Judy Docca claimed that the problem has persisted for decades, but that it’s not unique to MCPS.

According to data the National Center for Education Statistics gathered in 2012, the most recent year available, nearly 40 percent of all black students in the country, as well as 16 percent of Hispanic students, reported to have been suspended or expelled. In comparison, white students were at about 19 percent.

“It’s a real, serious issue, and it’s one I’ve been talking about and concerned about for a long time, probably since the 1970s, so the data wasn’t surprising,” Docca said in an interview with Bethesda Magazine. “I’m sorry to have seen it again … but the work we’re doing now is so positive.”

At the school board committee meeting, Lowndes announced the newly created training for staff on how to de-escalate tense situations in the classroom. It was also revealed that the district will start rolling out restorative justice practices and has gathered a “suspension workgroup” that is developing a plan to address Hispanic and black students’ suspensions.