Racially Charged Decatur School Board Meeting Held Tuesday Night

DECATUR, GA -- A City Schools of Decatur board meeting Tuesday night focused on plans to address discipline and education disparities for black students. The Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights brought their concerns to the school board over what they call unfair disciplinary action against black students. The group was concerned over statistics that show black students represented 23 percent of the district's 2015-16 student body but received almost 74 percent of rude/disorderly conduct violations.

The group is demanding an end to out-of-school suspensions for elementary school students, and establishing a grievance process and a district equity plan, as well as evaluations that rate a staff member’s cultural competence.

In 2016-17, black students represented 22.1% of student enrollment but were suspended at three times the rate of their white counterparts, according to On Common Ground News.

Attorney Mawuli Davis, co-chairman of the organization, commended Superintendent Dr. David Dude for presenting the statistics, but said no solutions have been put forth, as reported by the AJC.

Read On Common Ground News' coverage here.

Read the AJC's coverage here.

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