St. Paul Public Schools has continued to suspend African-American students far more often than their peers since reaching a monitoring agreement last summer with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
Black students, who make up 31 percent of district students, received 73 percent of suspensions in the first quarter of this school year, according to a recent report to the state.
Last school year, 74 percent of suspensions went to black students.
American Indian students are suspended at an even higher rate.
Minnesota and other Midwestern states historically have had the country’s greatest racial disparities in school discipline. The Human Rights department last year called out the St. Paul district and dozens of others for inequitable discipline, reaching a three-year monitoring agreement in June.
In a report to the school board Tuesday, district officials said suspensions overall fell by just 1 percent last year. The report highlighted progress in select schools, including Johnson Senior High and Highland Park Middle.
Johnson Principal Micheal Thompson said the school has taken several steps to empower students with leadership roles since dozens walked out of school in 2014 to protest police violence against black men.
“I’m encouraged by what’s happened,” he said.
Board member Steve Marchese hoped he’d see better data after several years of district efforts to decrease disparities in student discipline.
“It’s going to take a systemic and sustained approach,” he said.
Under former superintendent Valeria Silva, the district reduced overall suspensions but saw its racial disparities grow. When teachers complained that student behavior worsened, suspensions went back up.
The district’s new strategic plan will renew the district’s focus on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, a state-approved framework for preventing poor behavior.
The district also received a federal grant that will expand the number of schools using restorative practices.
This is the third year of a restorative practices pilot in partnership with the St. Paul Federation of Educators. So far, the program has not reduced disciplinary problems in those schools, but officials say that wasn’t necessarily the goal.
Kathy Lombardi, assistant director of school climate and support, said principal and teacher turnover has hurt implementation in some schools using restorative practices.