Criticism mounts as Biden admin suggests school disciplinary practices are racist

The Department of Education and the Department of Justice have released a fresh guide that suggests school districts may be engaging in discriminatory practices by suspending students who are absent from school without valid reasons, especially those from minority backgrounds.

The "Resource on Addressing Racial Discrimination in Student Discipline" provides strategies and recommendations that highlight potential instances of racial discrimination resulting from disparate impacts, such as the suspension of students who are absent from school without valid reasons.

"Significant disparities by race – beginning as early as preschool – have persisted in the application of student discipline in schools," Assistant Secretary Catherine Lhamon, responsible for Civil Rights in Education, expressed in a letter accompanying the resource.

"While racial disparities in student discipline alone do not violate the law, ensuring compliance with Federal nondiscrimination obligations can involve examining the underlying causes of such disparities. In specific cases, the Departments and the courts have concluded that violations of the laws the Departments enforce underlie these disparities."

The resource, developed in collaboration with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights division, showcased various Office for Civil Rights investigations that served as prime examples of actions meeting the department's definition of racially discriminatory practices.

As per the report, in August 2022, the department concluded an OCR investigation into Victor Valley Union High School District, finding that "the district enforced discipline policies that disproportionately harmed black students" including the suspension of students who arrived late or skipped school. Similarly, Wicomico County Public Schools in Maryland was instructed to permit students who had skipped school to complete any missed assignments.

The department's resource faced criticism from conservative education experts who pointed out that the Biden administration was suggesting that school disciplinary practices, such as suspensions, were inherently discriminatory.

Bob Eitel, the president and co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute, told the Washington Examiner in a statement that the Biden administration is "wrong" to suggest that "school disciplinary policies are inherently racist."

"What is inherently racist is assuming that school employees are racist because they are trying to maintain classroom order and discipline so students can learn," Eitel said. "Classroom discipline should have nothing to do with the administration’s woke agenda on race, and everything to do with maintaining a productive learning environment."