Black and Hispanic students were disproportionately suspended, N.J. report shows

New Jersey public schools are suspending Black and Hispanic students at a higher rate than white students, according to a new state report.

This report, looking at the 2022-23 school year, is the first time the state has released demographic data for district- and school-level discipline. Schools were required to submit the data to the state under a law that took effect this year. Previously, only statewide data were available.

“It’s important that we get the data so we are not guessing,” said State Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D., Somerset), the bill’s sponsor. “Now we have the data. It is clearly showing that there is a racial disparity in disciplinary action.”

The findings largely follow national trends that have shown disproportionate discipline for some students of color compared with the same actions committed by their white peers.

Although Black students constitute only 15.5% of the state’s student population, they account for 29.8% of referrals from schools to law enforcement, and 28.9% of arrests in schools, according to the Department of Education.

Joe Johnson, policy counsel for ACLU-NJ, attributes the disparity to racial bias. There are at least a dozen New Jersey cases alleging discriminatory discipline under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

Johnson said he was troubled by the report’s finding that Black students were not only suspended more often, but also reported to law enforcement. Nearly half of the more than 10,000 incidents statewide reported to police were not mandatory referrals, such as assaults and weapons offenses, and resulted in 552 arrests, the report found.

“In an ideal world, the police would only be involved when they are required,” said Johnson, who pushed for the demographics law. “There is work to be done to determine why there are so many referrals.”

According to the report, 61,132 students total were suspended at least once, with 44,261 getting an out-of-school suspension. Most suspended students were suspended once for less than a week of school, although many were suspended several times.

According to statewide figures, 9% of Black students were suspended in the 2022-23 school year, a share more than three times higher than the 2.7% of white students suspended. More than 4% of Hispanic students and 1.2% of Asian and Pacific Islander students were suspended statewide. (District-level and school-level data are available at the Department of Education’s website.)

Some of the South Jersey districts with the largest disparities between white and Black or Hispanic students included Collingswood, Haddon Township, Cherry Hill, Haddon Heights, Palmyra, Mount Laurel, Clayton, Moorestown, Glassboro, Lumberton, Rancocas, and Cinnaminson.

At Collingswood Public Schools, a district that made headlines in the spring when high school students allegedly organized a “white student union,” the percentage of Black students suspended was 7.2 times higher than white students, with 19.5% of Black students suspended and only 2.7% of white students suspended, an Inquirer analysis found of the 2022-23 report. The percentage of Hispanic students suspended (5.9%) was 2.2 times higher than white students. The school had an overall rate of 6.5%, or 146, of its students suspended.

» READ MORE: Collingswood High School students under investigation for harassment, intimidation, bullying incident

Said Mary Anne Degenhart, cofounder of Embracing Race, a Collingswood-based group that organizes conversations about race: “Surprised and disappointed.”

“I can’t say shocked,” Degenhart said.

Collingswood Superintendent Fred McDowell said the Camden County district has restructured its leadership team and created a position for a director of school culture who aligns social-emotional learning. The district also plans to develop a restorative practices conduct guide.

“We seek to reimagine our current practices and behavioral responses with a restorative lens to maximize the time all students are in class,” McDowell said in a statement.

» READ MORE: Bullying in N.J. schools has jumped to its highest level ever, state report finds

Naimah Howard, a mother in Gloucester County who fought to get her daughter readmitted to Kingsway Regional High School after she was given a long-term suspension, welcomed the report. Her daughter, who is Black, was suspended the entire 2023-24 school year. Black students at the district were suspended at a rate 3.3 times higher than white students in 2022-23, according to the report.

Howard has contended her daughter, Sania Anderson, was viewed as a threat to the school community. “It definitely confirms what I already knew,” Howard said. “I felt she was excluded because she is Black.”

Kingsway officials did not return a request to comment on the report.

At Clayton Public School District, where the percentage of Black students (4%) suspended was 4.4 times the percentage of white students (0.9%), Superintendent Nick Koutsogiannis acknowledged that “the data suggests disparities in disciplinary actions, and this is not something we take lightly.” The district recently received a grant to expand counseling services and provide more professional development for staff.

“We are committed to taking concrete actions to address these disparities and to ensure that our discipline policies are fair and just for all students,” Koutsogiannis said in a statement.

Black students at Haddon Heights are 5.3 times more likely to be suspended than white students, according to the report. Haddon Heights Superintendent Carla Bittner said the district’s strategic plan includes a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, and the system continues to make changes to reflect those efforts, including removing traditional barriers for students who are interested in taking honors and AP courses.

Rancocas Valley Regional High School District saw 14.3% of its students suspended in 2022-23, with Black students suspended 3.4 times the percentage that white students were suspended, and Hispanic students suspended 3.1 times the percentage of white students. Superintendent Christopher Heilig cautioned against using the demographics to compare schools. The numbers fail to present a full picture of the climate and culture of every school, he said.

“We fear that a summary report of this data creates dangerous misperceptions about the state of many of our New Jersey schools and the intentions of our educators and, ultimately, threatens support for and progress of many initiatives in motion to address equity,” Heilig said.

Heilig said his district, based in Mount Holly, has stepped up efforts in recent years to improve equity and has worked with focus groups that include students who may feel underrepresented. The district is among 15 nationwide to participate in a collaboration by the National Center for Safe Supportive Schools to promote equity and student well-being, he said.

Here are some other takeaways from the School Safety and Discipline Report:

For the first time, state law requires districts to provide information on the use of physical restraint and seclusion techniques, which Johnson called “an eye-opener.” According to the report, 2,470 students, mostly those with disabilities, were subjected to restraint or seclusion at least once.

The report said restraint or seclusions should not be used as disciplinary action, but may be appropriate if a student’s behavior poses an imminent danger to the student or others. The report provides information on how many students were restrained, secluded or both.

» READ MORE: After a N.J. kindergartner was filmed barricaded behind a gym mat, his mother wants an investigation

According to the report, male students were five times more likely than female students to be subjected to restraint or seclusion. Although more white students were restrained or secluded than any other racial group, a greater proportion of Black students were subjected to restraint or seclusion. Preschoolers through second graders were more likely to be restrained or secluded than other students.

Most harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB) incidents occurred on school grounds with nearly half of the 9,011 occurrences experienced in middle schools, the report said.

Schools are imposing disciplinary action other than suspension for HIB offenders, the report said. The most common remedial action for offenders and victims is counseling, the report said.

» READ MORE: An 11-year-old who died by suicide was relentlessly bullied at her South Jersey school, a lawsuit says

Asian and Black students were more likely than other students to be targeted because of their race, the report said, as well as students with disabilities, and those targeted because of their gender identity and expression, the report said.

The ACLU plans to push to have the discipline demographics included in the state’s annual school performance report issued for every district, to make it readily available to the public as mandated by the law, Johnson said.

The state urged districts to review their disciplinary action and compare the findings to state-level results to consider whether any proactive steps are needed. Johnson said districts should examine how their policies have contributed to the racial disparities.

In a statement, a spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said the state plans to continue to work with schools and take enforcement action if necessary to “ensure that disciplinary policies and practices do not discriminate against students based on race, national origin, or any other protected characteristic.”

The office issued a guide last August on steps schools should take to ensure that their policies treat all students fairly.

“If you have wide disparities in discipline based on race, you have a real problem in your district,” Zwicker said. “No matter what, it’s unacceptable. You need to do better.”