Why are students allowed to run wild in public schools?

The Obama administration’s January 8, 2014 Dear Colleague letter on the “Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline,” essentially instituted racial quotas on any attempts to control student behavior.

Using Civil Rights Data Collection figures showing large racial gaps in exclusionary discipline:

• Black students were about 15% of enrollment but accounted for 35% of students suspended once, 44% of those suspended more than once, and 36% of those expelled.
• Black students without disabilities were more than three times as likely as White peers to be suspended or expelled.
• Over half of school-related arrests and law-enforcement referrals involved Black or Hispanic students. 

The letter argued these gaps were not explained by differences in the frequency or seriousness of misbehavior. It applied a disparate-impact standard under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act: a race-neutral policy could still violate federal law if it produced a “disproportionate and unjustified effect” on students of a particular race. Schools that failed to address such disparities risked federal investigations and loss of funding. It also promoted alternatives to suspension and expulsion (restorative practices, counseling, positive behavioral interventions) and warned against over-reliance on school resource officers.