DATE: Thursday, October 23, 1997            TAG: 9710230523

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   94 lines

RACIAL GAP SHOWN IN BEACH SCHOOLS BUT THE DISPARITY OVER DISCIPLINE TENDS TO SHRINK FOR HIGHER GRADES

When it comes to discipline, black students continue to chalk up a disproportionate number of infractions, according to statistics released by school officials.

But in most situations, students receive the same punishment for the same offense, regardless of race.

In an extensive analysis of discipline data for the 1996-97 school year, district officials found higher rates of infractions in schools where a high percentage of students received free and reduced lunches and where students frequently enter or leave the school during the year.

Virginia Beach has spent months collecting and analyzing its figures. The data show the racial disparity linked to discipline tends to shrink as students get older - a higher percentage of elementary-age black students get into trouble than at the high school level while for white students the inverse occurs. During that same time period, the academic gap between black and white student achievement tends to widen.

``I think we can clearly have problems, as can every school district in this country with significant diversity, without having institutional blame,'' said Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney.

The Virginian-Pilot has requested similar data from the Norfolk, Suffolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake school systems. It will be published later.

Beach division officials say collecting the data is just a step toward understanding where problems are and how to handle them. They also acknowledge that the data create more questions that will need to be answered.

``Bringing attention to the problem is the first step to fixing them,'' Jenney said.

He also said he is confident that regular data collection and analysis will help identify individual problems. However, he is confident the issues are not systemic in the division.

Lucia Hinton, an African-American teacher and parent in the district who is suing the system for what she thinks were discriminatory practices against her daughter, said she isn't convinced the disproportionate numbers represent isolated incidents.

``I still think the problem may be systemic, and when it comes down to it, our children are not given the same consideration as others,'' she said.

Unlike last year, when the division collected data just for suspensions and expulsions, this year's numbers include all disciplinary incidents. Among the findings:

Overall, African-American students make up 24.2 percent of the district's enrollment but accounted for 39.2 percent of incidents. If the numbers are analyzed so that students involved in multiple incidents are not counted repeatedly, the percentage of students disciplined is 35.7.

White students overall make up 67.5 percent of the district's students but account for 54.8 percent of those in disciplinary incidents. In an unduplicated analysis, the percentage of students disciplined is 57.5.

At the elementary school level, African-American students make up 46.9 percent of those involved in disciplinary incidents, at the middle school level 44.9 percent, and at the high school level 32.6 percent. For white students the figures are 49.2 percent at the elementary level, 50.3 percent at the middle school level and 59.9 percent at the high school level.

The district looked at numbers for the 10 students at each grade level most frequently involved in disciplinary incidents and found the range at the elementary level to be between 18 and 39 incidents; at the middle school level between 36 and 50 incidents and at the high school level between 31 and 47 incidents.

Once discipline is meted out, students usually receive similar punishments for similar offenses, regardless of race. (These numbers were calculated only for the secondary level.) For instance, 32 percent of the African-American students disciplined for being disruptive were given one day of in-school suspension. Among white students, 33 percent received one day of in-school suspension. When disciplined for assault, 5 percent of black students were suspended from school for five days while 7 percent of white students received the same punishment for that offense.

School officials said they will use this and other data to address problems where they find them. They have committed to closely monitoring disciplinary action and reporting their findings to the federal Office of Civil Rights.

Among other things, school employees will be assigned a code number so that the administration can track disciplinary referrals and see if staffers are focusing on students from any single group. In addition, the district, for the first time, is working to define disciplinary offenses and set guidelines for the appropriate punishments. Parents, students and staff will then have a common understanding of how a student found guilty of a certain infraction should be disciplined.

And the district is exploring more intervention strategies so that a single student is less likely to rack up 50 disciplinary infractions in one year, as one middle school student did.

``We're not going to let this stuff sit around in a folder,'' said Jonathan L. Harnden, director of the district's Office of Student Leadership. ILLUSTRATION: 1996-97 DISCIPLINARY INCIDENTS

GRAPHIC

The Virginian-Pilot

SOURCE: Virginia Beach Public Schools

[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.] KEYWORDS: RACE DISCIPLINE VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu