The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today resolved a compliance review of Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky, that examined whether the school district discriminates against African American students by disciplining them more frequently and more harshly than similarly situated white students.
In addition to confirming persistent race disparities in district imposition of discipline across all years that OCR reviewed, OCR’s investigation confirmed that similarly situated African American and white students were treated differently at the referral and sanctioning stages of the discipline process and that African American students were subjected to harsher discipline than similarly situated white students. For example:
- African American students were more likely than white students to receive an out of school suspension for their first infraction in a school year.
- District records showed African American students subjected to exclusionary discipline when white students were allowed, for the same offense, the opportunity to apologize, engage in a restorative practice, or otherwise meet with district staff.
While African American and white students attended school in the district in roughly equal proportion – African American students were 37% of district students in the 2021-22 school year and white students were 39% of district students that same year – 55% of African American district students received a disciplinary referral at least once, compared to 27.1% of white students.
To resolve these concerns before OCR completed investigation of the district, Jefferson County Public Schools committed to:
- Review the discipline handbook to ensure that staff are provided sufficient guidance when categorizing behavior, selecting disciplinary responses, documenting disciplinary determinations, providing notice to students and parents/guardians, and defining behaviors in subjective discipline categories with sufficient detail.
- Improve data collection for discipline referrals to ensure incident descriptions are consistent with district definitions for offenses and accurately capture all consequences for each referral.
- Provide training to staff on the revisions to the discipline handbook, definitions of common behaviors in the handbook, the selection of appropriate consequences for misbehavior, and data entry in the district discipline database.
- Provide specific guidance on placements in alternative educational environments.
- Provide parent and student information sessions to explain discipline expectations and the disciplinary process.
- Conduct school climate surveys to measure perceptions of the district’s administration of school discipline.
- Provide compensatory education to students who were removed from the learning environment because of past discipline practices.
“Kentucky’s largest school system has now committed to build on important strides it made during the course of this compliance review to safeguard against race discrimination when disciplining students in its schools,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “OCR looks forward to working with Jefferson County Public Schools to fulfill its federal civil rights obligations to its students, ensuring equal treatment for each child at every stage of the discipline process.”
The letter of resolution to Jefferson County and the resolution agreement are available on the OCR website.