Atlantic City High School East Campus Showed Racial Inequalities
The following is an excerpt of an op-ed by Deputy Director Marsha Levick, published in The Press of Atlantic City Newspaper on Friday, January 15, 2014. To read the full op-ed, click the link below.
The recent closure of the Atlantic City High School East Campus, the district's alternative high school, presents an overdue opportunity to eliminate racial inequalities and ensure that all students have access to the same educational opportunities.
|
The U.S. Department of Education has found that...school disciplinary practices tend to have a discriminatory impact on students of color, who are often expelled for non-violent and minor misconduct, while white peers engaging in similar behavior remain in school. |
For years, East Campus has operated as a segregated school, with virtually no white students; the district's regular public school is over 20 percent white. Parents report that their children were sent to East Campus for minor infractions without the due process protections required by law. Some students say they were sent directly to East Campus after leaving juvenile delinquency placements, with no opportunity to show that they were ready to return to a traditional school setting.
These practices raise serious questions about the district's compliance with federal and state law. The experiences of East Campus students are...
Image credit: "old school" by alamosbasement licensed via CC 2.0. Image has been edited.