Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE) and Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. (LAWO) have established a Meaningful and Appropriate Education Practice Group to address racial disparities in school disciplinary policies.
Denise Zanni, an attorney with LAWO, states that “
[m]ore than 70 percent of the students involved in school-related arrests” [are] Hispanic or African American. Hispanic children and African American children are also more likely to be suspended and expelled from school. Research shows that, contrary to popular belief, these students do not ‘act out’ in the classroom more than their white peers. Higher rates of suspension, expulsion, and school-related arrests mean that African American and Hispanic students are also more likely to drop out by the 10th grade and face imprisonment later in life.
The LAWO ABLE Education Practice Group will focus its work on addressing systemic issues to ensure appropriate educational opportunities, particularly for children living in poverty, African-American and Latino children, immigrant children, homeless children, children in foster care, and children with disabilities, in the Mansfield area.