African-Americans in Cincinnati Public Schools last year received 85 percent of suspensions handed out, though they made up less than 71 percent of the district's population.

BY THE NUMBERS

Suspension rates for Cincinnati Public Schools in 2000-01. • Total suspensions: 14,009. • Black males: 8,060 suspensions, 57.53 percent of the total suspensions. (Black males made up more than 35 percent of the district's total population.) • Black females: 3,885 suspensions, 27.73 percent of the total. (Black females made up more than 35 percent of the total population.) • White males received 1,484 suspensions, 10.6 percent of the total, (White males made up nearly 15 percent of the total population.) • White females received 580 suspensions, 4.14 percent of the total. (White females made up nearly 15 percent of the population.) — Source: Cincinnati Public Schools

        Overall, black pupils received 11,945 of the 14,009 total suspensions. That includes some students receiving more than one suspension.

        Black males received most of those suspensions.

        The rate for expulsions was even higher, with black students receiving 88 percent, or 704, of the 800 expulsions the district doled out.

        Nationally, black students are disciplined disproportionately to their population.

        Sue Taylor, president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers called the information disturbing.

        “This is another clear indication we need to be creative in figuring out what interventions need to be put in place to reduce suspensions overall,” she said. “Certainly, we need to try to figure out why African—Americans have been targeted for suspensions and expulsions in disproportionate numbers to their population.”

        School-by-school suspension and expulsion data broken down by race and sex was released Monday after multiple requests by board of education member Florence Newell. Ms. Newell recently asked for the breakdown again to supplement a district discipline report conducted in December.

        The December report examined suspensions and expulsions by school so officials can determine which Cincinnati schools have the fewest discipline problems, said district spokeswoman Jan Leslie. Those schools' procedures will be analyzed to help refine disciplinary practices for the 42,000-student district.

        Superintendent Steven Adamowski said breaking down the suspensions and expulsions by race does not provide an accurate and complete picture. He said the high rate of suspensions for African-Americans is more a factor of poverty than race.

        “Children in poverty bring much more serious issues to school,” he said. “It spans the gamut from nutrition to mental health issues to everything else.”

        Furthermore, suspension and expulsion procedures are determined by board policy, he said. For example, students receive a mandatory expulsion if they bring drugs, alcohol or dangerous weapons to school.

        “We are committed to students being in a safe and orderly environment,” Mr. Adamowski said.

        Annual suspension rates in public schools nationwide have nearly doubled for the nation as a whole, from 1.7 million in 1974 to 3.2 million in 1998, according to Daniel J. Losen, legal research and advocacy associate for The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.

        Nationally, about 13 percent of the enrolled black youths were suspended in 1998, compared to 5 percent of whites, he said.

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