HOUSTON – A roundtable discussion was held Wednesday morning by Children At Risk to discuss racial inequities experienced by children and families in Texas.
This will be the fourth roundtable discussion where speakers talk about issues and trends that historically impact children of color.
The discussion focused on school discipline disparities and how it negatively impacts children of color.
School experts talked about how the biases impact Black children when it comes to school discipline in the classrooms and what can be done to prevent these biases to have a better outcome and learning experience for Black students.
The panel included Sharon Watkins Jones, Director of the Texas Racial Equity Collaborative, Children at Risk; Dr. Dawn Dubose, Ed.D., Chief of Schools, Stafford MSD; Nuri Robles, Assistant Principal, Bowie High School; Andre’ Watkins, Principal Consultant, SevenPeace Solutions; Dr. Khalilah Campbell-Rhone, Transformation Area Superintendent, Houston ISD.
According to Children at Risk, in 2017 and 2018, Texas districts were 2.5 times more likely to suspend Black students in early elementary grades compared to white students.
In 2011, a study of Texas discipline policies by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and Texas A&M University’s Public Policy Research Institute found that for students in middle or high school, 23% of those suspended at least once ended up in contact with a juvenile probation officer, compared with just 2% of those not disciplined.
“Understanding and meeting the needs of students, without bias, are the most important tasks of educators and school administrators,” said Jones. “Viewed through that lens, discipline should guide students toward success, not steer them toward failure.”