This editorial from the Chicago Sun-Times shows that some folks are beginning to “get” Jena.  “If the Jena 6 case teaches us anything,” we read, “it’s the ability to question injustice served on people who aren’t altogether perfect.” 

I am not suggesting that all of the Jena 6 defendants are guilty as charged.  But somebody beat up Justin Barker, and those convicted of participation in the assault, in a fair trial (i.e. the kind no longer possible within the confines of LaSalle Parish) need to answer for their actions. 

But what sort of punishment is appropriate for these students, or for the adults responsible for creating a toxic social environment at Jena High School?  How do we go about fixing what is broken?  That’s the question.

Suspensions fail test of fairness

October 15, 2007

The Jena 6 case drew the nation’s attention to unequal justice at a small-town Louisiana school. Yet, discipline statistics from the Chicago Public Schools, analyzed by the Sun-Times’ editorial page, suggest we don’t have to look beyond our backyard to raise the same questions of inequality. Of the 500 students suspended every day in Chicago public schools, black students are three times more likely than whites or Hispanics to be suspended.

Black students make up 48 percent of the Chicago Public Schools population but account for 73 percent of suspensions. The suspension rate is about equal for Hispanic and white students: Hispanics total 38 percent of the student population and 20 percent of suspensions; white students make up 8 percent of the population but just 4 percent of suspensions.

Those numbers are from 2006, but the disparity has lingered for many years. Foundations and think tanks have studied it and written about it. A 2005 report, “The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track,” said, “Chicago’s zero tolerance policies and practices fall more harshly on black students.” An internal study by CPS in 2004 showed that black students were more likely to be suspended — and serve longer suspensions — in schools where they are in the minority.

The Board of Education cracked down on the sheer number of suspensions in recent years. Still, last school year, 45,288 students were suspended, some of them more than once. In August, during mandatory sessions on the Student Code of Discipline, administrators were briefed on options to suspension.

Still overdue, however, are answers for the reasons behind the divide. Because even when the number of suspensions declined, the rates remained the same: African-American students were still suspended 3-1 over whites and Hispanics.

“There is something out there that we’re missing,” admits James Bebley, first deputy general counsel for the Board of Education.

Barbara Radner of DePaul’s Center for Urban Education said teacher preparation could be at the core. With inexperienced teachers typically assigned to tough schools, “maybe they are not prepared to manage classes effectively.”

A cultural divide is often at the heart of such disparity. Yet while the majority of CPS teachers are white (47 percent), the majority of principals are African-American (54 percent.)

“I think the ‘why’ that affects race and culture and how people act — this is a conversation of the United States of America of every level,” said Cook County Judge Sophia Hall, a juvenile justice expert who advocates “a menu of options” for kids who do wrong.

Suspensions are a short-term fix to a long-term problem. They leave struggling kids disengaged and further behind. And they reward kids who hardly need a disincentive to skip school. Teachers need alternatives — in-school suspensions and detentions, peer mediation and conflict resolution, for example.

If the Jena 6 case teaches us anything, it’s the ability to question injustice served on people who aren’t altogether perfect.