Regarding the July 19 Metro article “ACLU calls for audit of D.C. school suspensions”:
D.C. Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson’s response to The Post’s finding of the pervasive use of unreported high school suspensions was not only inadequate but was also dangerous for the District’s students.
There is little or no evidence that suspensions enhance school safety or improve student behavior. Suspensions set up our youths to fail by shutting them out of an education, decreasing their likelihood of graduation and increasing their likelihood of interaction with the criminal-justice system. This is the “school-to-prison pipeline.”
In the District and throughout the country, students of color and students with disabilities are disproportionately represented at every stage of the school-to-prison pipeline. By failing to properly document all suspensions, D.C. Public Schools has denied students who are already at a disadvantage the opportunity to defend themselves against administrators’ accusations.
Monica Hopkins-Maxwell, Washington
The writer is executive director of the
ACLU of the District of Columbia.