As AG investigates Buffalo school suspensions, a call for change: 'What we're doing isn't working'

Oct. 2—Latesha Evans' son had a tough time in sixth grade last year, missing about 80 days of school because of suspensions. After she decided not to send him back to Buffalo Public Schools in June because she felt he was being targeted, he got suspended again.

One Buffalo father said his 6-year-old autistic son was suspended for 45 days twice last year, for hitting and kicking two teachers. He broke one teacher's nose, and she charged him with assault, he said. Then father and son attended a virtual disciplinary hearing.

"I think the only thing he understood was he got arrested by the police and he had to get a lawyer," the father said.

Suspensions have been a problem for decades in Buffalo Public Schools because of the high rate and the disparity among demographic groups. The district is under investigation by the State Attorney General's Office, which is looking into whether students are being disciplined differently because of race and ethnicity.

"Data shows that African American and Hispanic students are subject to more frequent and severe disciplinary actions as compared to similarly situated white students," the attorney general's Civil Rights Bureau said in a letter to then-Superintendent Kriner Cash in January 2020.

Buffalo Public Schools said the number of suspensions is down this year, and the district "anticipates the decreases will continue throughout the year as we broaden our reach by expanding partnerships and working with parents and caregivers."

School leaders are working to improve school climates through social and emotional learning, restorative practices, increasing support staff, providing interventions and training for security officers, according to the district. But many parents think more needs to be done.

And some say the district doesn't always follow time requirements on holding disciplinary hearings, resulting in children being out of school longer than necessary.

"By the time you get the (suspension notice) letter, they've already been suspended for a week," said one parent who spoke on the condition that his and his son's names not be used. "Then, if they overturn it, you don't get that week back."

That is particularly frustrating to families after two years of virtual and disrupted learning because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While suspensions have gone down slightly since 2015, according to district data, there still are a disproportionate number of Black, multiracial and Native American students suspended, compared to white students.

The percentage of Black students suspended is more than twice their white classmates, and nearly two times as many multiracial and Native American students as white students were suspended last year. Poor children, and those in special education, also are suspended more than their classmates.

The practice also has drawn the attention of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

"Buffalo Public Schools has a pattern of disproportionately suspending students from historically-marginalized communities — including students with disabilities, students of color, and students from economically disadvantaged families," the NYCLU said in a statement.

The NYCLU and Community Action Organization of Western New York conducted a town hall meeting Thursday to address their concerns.

"Suspensions are counterproductive to student learning and send a message to excluded students that they don't belong in public schools," said Rae Shih, education counsel at the NYCLU.

Buffalo Public Schools said there were 10 fewer short-term suspensions this year, compared to the same time period last year. There have been 81 long-term suspensions — longer than five days — in the first four weeks of school, compared to 58 last year, according to the district's website.

"Our children have faced unprecedented life experiences after a two-year pandemic that brought about extreme loss, grief, and isolation," Superintendent Tonja M. Williams said in a statement addressing the suspensions. She noted that 99% of students have not had an out-of-school suspension this year.

"That narrative of positivity must be uplifted," she said.

At-Large Board Member Larry Scott said the district has made significant investment in practices designed to help children and their behavior, including trauma-informed care, restorative practices, culturally and linguistically responsive initiatives and social-emotional learning. The district also has a new student code of conduct focusing on social and emotional support.

"We need to find a balance between providing preventative and supportive practices and clear and consistent expectations and consequences for problem-behavior," Scott said in a statement.

Scott said the district hired additional mental health staff and many community-based organizations are working in schools and with students and families.

One of those is the Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition. Executive Director Dina Thompson said the coalition has been working and offering training to Buffalo Public Schools for about 10 years, and last year started partnering with five schools.

"We need to acknowledge that what we're doing in suspension isn't working," she said. "We need to look at other interventions to address challenging behavior."

"There's a difference between consequence and punishment," said Jessica Bauer-Walker, executive director of Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo. "We need to examine how we use this as a tool for how we correct behavior and solve problems."

Carolyn Hite was a staff attorney for Legal Aid of Buffalo, serving a two-year Skadden Foundation fellowship that ended Friday. The New York City based foundation offers two-year fellowships to lawyers to pursue public interest law. She found her clients faced a number of problems with the process, including notices of suspensions not given to them in writing or delayed.

Superintendent's hearings were not always scheduled in a timely manner, leaving children out of school, waiting for a hearing, and notices also were not always given in the family's language, according to Hite. She said at one hearing, a student was interpreting for his mother.

Hite said she filed seven appeals to the School Board in March over procedural violations. The remedy, she said, is clear: the suspension gets expunged from the record. But she did not get a response from the board. She filed two appeals to the state education commissioner.

"I had at least three clients in the spring who were sent home without actually being suspended. So the principal would call and say your child is not welcome back for the next week," Hite said.

But then the principal told parents it would not count as a suspension.

"For any kid, it's problematic. You're just sending them home without any follow up," she said.

Students on a short-term suspension, which is five days or less, are to get tutoring for one or two hours a day starting on the fourth day, she said. In many cases, children are told to go online to get assignments.

"It's our position that does not comply with the law," Hite said.

Evans' son was suspended May 16, two weeks after his father died. The superintendent's hearing did not occur until June 9, the 18th day he was out of school. A second hearing required for special education students was held the same day, and it was determined that his behavior was related to his disability, so he was allowed to go back the next day.

"I didn't feel like it was going to improve. I didn't send him back," Evans said.

He got another suspension notice June 14, and the hearing was not scheduled until Sept. 8, the second day of school this year. After the hearing, he was allowed back in school.

The Attorney General's Office started an investigation of Syracuse City Schools in 2013 over issues similar to those in Buffalo, to see if the district adhered to state and federal civil rights laws. In an agreement signed the following year, the district had to hire an independent monitor for at least four years, and appoint an ombudsman and a coordinator at each school. In the 2019-20 school year, the suspension rate in Syracuse dropped to 5%.

"Usually, it's cheaper to keep a child in school than it is to suspend," Thompson said. "As a society, the long term benefits of keeping your child in school and educating them is it's cheaper than suspending them and having them out in the street."

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