On July 23, 2021, Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in response to its request for information on school discipline (Docket ID ED-2021-OCR-0068). The Department was thinking of reinstating its 2014 “Dear Colleague” guidance, which threatened federal action against school districts that did not eliminate racial gaps in discipline outcomes.
As the comments note, “Reinstating that guidance will create perverse incentives for school officials to avoid onerous and costly enforcement actions launched by the federal government by — paradoxically — making disciplinary decisions based on race. OCR is inviting school officials to do exactly what it (erroneously) fears they are doing now: adopt disciplinary policies that discriminate against students on the basis of race, regardless of individual circumstances.”
“If the Department of Education is concerned about discrimination in discipline, more discrimination is not the solution,” said Neily. “Teachers and principals at the local level are best situated to address disciplinary issues and ensure the well-being of their communities. Every student is a unique individual and should be treated as such, regardless of his or her race or sex.”
Read the full comments below:
