蜜桃传媒

鈥淚 don鈥檛 have rights,鈥� the 15-year-old boy tells me.

His mother begins to sob uncontrollably. She sees the hopelessness in her son鈥檚 eyes.

Sammy* has been suspended so often for vague violations like 鈥渄isruptive behavior鈥� and 鈥渕isconduct鈥� that he鈥檚 missed more than 30 percent of the school year. He鈥檚 one of thousands of students we represent in class action complaints challenging racial inequality in five Florida school districts.

The suspensions have taken away his enthusiasm for learning and made him and his family feel powerless.

I can鈥檛 blame him for feeling this way. I鈥檝e been there myself.

Because of instability in my home, I attended seven different schools by the time I reached middle school. One of my earliest memories of school was being suspended in the first grade because I wrote an improper word on my homework. After missing a full week, I spent the rest of the year trying to catch up. This led to more behavioral problems and suspensions.

My first year in high school, I failed nearly all my classes. Because I was deprived repeatedly of my right to an education through suspension and received no positive reinforcement at home, I lost in school. I had more than 50 absences that year. Some days I preferred to stay home instead of spending an hour outside my school waiting for 1,500 students to go through metal detectors.

Finally, by the third year of high school, I was expelled and had to attend an alternative school. I鈥檒l never forget how devastating it was. Combined with frequent moves between family members because both my parents were incarcerated, my school kicking me out made me feel worthless and unwanted. I felt thrown away, left for dead and given up on.

The alternative school was simply a warehouse for troubled kids before they drop out. After two days of classes that were years below my level, with ancient books the regular high school no longer saw fit to use, I dropped out. The degradation by the school pushed me to the point that I no longer felt welcomed.

So, as one formerly troubled African-American kid to another, I can relate to Sammy.

He describes the humiliation of being segregated with the 鈥渂ad kids鈥� in portable classrooms in a distant corner of his high school. He鈥檚 forced to eat lunch in his aluminum-crate classroom because he鈥檚 forbidden from other parts of campus and restricted from interacting with 95 percent of the other students. He is not allowed to take elective courses, and if he dares to stay after school for a club meeting or football game, he鈥檒l be arrested for trespassing.

For him, school is a place where he is treated like a criminal. It has become a ritual for him to be searched by police officers on campus; his hands are sniffed for the scent of marijuana.

But he doesn鈥檛 deserve all of the blame.

Many school districts are adopting incredibly harsh disciplinary policies that needlessly push children out of school and into the criminal justice system, primarily for minor, nonviolent misbehavior. This phenomena is commonly referred to as the 鈥渟chool-to-prison pipeline.鈥�

In Sammy鈥檚 district, black children comprise just 15 percent of the student population 鈥� yet account for nearly half of all expulsions.

Three years ago, with the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) alleging discriminatory treatment of African-American children in Sammy鈥檚 district and four other school districts throughout Florida.

The DOE has been investigating the districts ever since.

Overly punitive discipline, particularly for black children, is a serious problem across Florida. More children are arrested in school here than in any other state. It has created a culture of intolerance for youthful behavior that takes Florida children out of the classroom for millions of hours every year.

In Escambia County, black children make up 35 percent of the student population but 92 percent of arrests for dubious misdemeanors like 鈥渄isorderly conduct.鈥� In Bay County, black students are 15 percent of the population but half of the arrests in the school. Both are among the districts where we filed complaints.聽

In these districts, students are missing tests and failing classes because they are at home under suspension. All because they forgot to wear a belt to school or didn鈥檛 have a hall pass?聽

It鈥檚 not fair and not smart.

I鈥檝e advised many of our clients like Sammy to stay in school despite their feelings of shame, resentment and alienation. I use my own story of getting back in school after dropping out and, last year, completing my fifth college degree. Many find it hard to believe that 鈥淒r. Amir Whitaker Esq.鈥� was once given up on by his school.聽

But the adults who operate our school systems need to do some soul-searching as well. We can鈥檛 keep giving up on children like Sammy. We can鈥檛 keep building more prisons to hold the dropouts from our underfunded, overly punitive schools. There鈥檚 a better, smarter way.聽

* Sammy is not his real name.

***听

Amir Whitaker is a recent law school graduate and a lawyer in the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Florida office.聽