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Black, disabled students disproportionately suspended in Virginia, report says

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Black, disabled students disproportionately suspended in Virginia, report says

 

"Black students in Virginia were suspended about four times as much as Hispanic and white students in 2015-16, according to a new report out Tuesday.

In total, Virginia schools issued more than 131,500 out-of-school suspensions during the 2015-16 school year, according to the report from the Legal Aid Justice Center, a Virginia-based organization that works to fight injustice. The out-of-school suspensions were given to about 70,000 students, meaning the average student who was suspended was done so about twice in 2015-16.

The news of an increase in out-of-school suspensions comes after the state’s suspension rate had dropped for four years. The rate of suspensions dropped by more than 20 percent from 2010-11 to 2013-14, according to the report, before flat-lining in 2014-15. The number of short-term suspensions rose by 1.8 percent from 2014-15 to 2015-16, the report says..."

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