Student suspensions jump after new policy

Guy Lucas, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·2 min read
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Jun. 30—GUILFORD COUNTY — The new discipline policy Guilford County Schools adopted in late 2019 has resulted in sharply higher suspensions, not radically fewer, as critics alleged before it was adopted, school officials said.

And, far from being swamped by parental appeals arguing that suspensions were unfair, the school system received just four.

Superintendent Sharon Contreras told the Guilford County Board of Education Tuesday night that the numbers defy what some critics of the new policy continue to say, which is that few students are being suspended and that principals are pressured to avoid suspensions.

"Students are being suspended at the highest rate seen in five years," she said.

Preliminary statistics on student discipline for the 2021-22 school year presented to the school board show the number of students referred to school principals or assistant principals for possible discipline jumped from 15,152 in the 2018-19 school year to 29,692 in 2021-22, a jump of nearly 96%.

Of those referrals this past school year, 16,265, or nearly 55%, resulted in either in-school or out-of-school suspension. That's up from 6,754 suspensions in 2018-19, or nearly 45% of all referrals, according to N.C. Department of Public Instruction records.

There are no full-year comparisons possible for 2019-20 or 2020-21 because of the interruptions to in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A key feature of the policy, which was implemented in early 2020, allows parents or guardians to appeal suspension decisions. Opponents said that would place too much authority with Contreras and usurp decisions on suspensions made at the school level by principals and assistant principals.

Opponents also argued that there could be a flood of appeals, allowing many misbehaving students to remain in classrooms and cause more problems while the appeal was pending.

That has not materialized.

One thing that has not changed greatly is a sharp racial disparity in student discipline cases. Black students made up 42.1% of Guilford's student population in 2021-22 but accounted for 69.3% of suspensions. White students were 28.1% of the population but 12.5% of suspensions.

In the 2018-19 school year, Black students accounted for 72.1% of suspensions and white students for 11.6%.