ST. PAUL, MN – Today, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) announced it has reached collaborative agreements with 9 Minnesota public school districts and charter schools to reduce the disparities in suspension and expulsion rates for students with disabilities and students of color, and two school districts receive charges of discrimination for educational discrimination.

The school districts and charter schools with settlement agreements include: Bloomington School District, Cass Lake-Bena School District, Robbinsdale School District, Best Academy Charter School, Dugsi Academy Charter School, Mastery Academy Charter School, Mankato School District,  St. Paul City Charter School, and Prairie Seeds Academy Charter School. MDHR reached an impasse with St. Louis Park School District and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley School District, and filed charges of discrimination. The Department is limited from commenting further during active investigations. The Department is continuing negotiations with the remaining 32 school districts and charter schools and anticipates announcing another round of Agreements in the coming weeks.

“I want to thank the leaders of these 14 districts and charter schools for coming to the table, having productive conversations, and identifying tailored solutions to address the disparities in discipline in our schools. In our meetings with school districts and charter schools, we heard time and again that Minnesota can do more to support our educators and students to achieve success in the classroom and in life. Kids simply can’t learn if they are not in school. These agreements are the first step in ensuring we are doing all we can to help Minnesota students develop their interpersonal and learning skills so they can thrive,” 

said MDHR Commissioner Kevin Lindsey.

The collaborative agreements aim to alleviate disparities in suspensions and expulsions to allow every student the chance to participate fully in their education, to partner with educators to address the implicit bias that influences perceptions of student behavior, and to increase student and community engagement. The agreements allow school officials to develop their own strategies to retain local control in student discipline decisions, maintain effective learning environments that promote academic success, and offer alternatives to suspension that keep students in school.  

School superintendents, community leaders and legislators from around the state reflect on the opportunity to create safe, positive environments for students while engaging parents, students, and school staff. 

Cass Lake Bena School District: “There is no cause greater than providing a great education to all children,” said Superintendent Rochelle Johnson, Cass Lake-Bena Public Schools. “We must all find pathways to keep children in schools as well as make that school time a positive experience in their lives.”

MN Education Equity Partnership: “As a State legislator and Director of the MN Education Equity Partnership (MnEEP), I welcome and support the recent collaboration agreements among several public school districts, charter schools and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to change school discipline practices that disparately punish students of color, American Indian students and students with disabilities,” said State Rep. Carlos Mariani Rosa, MnEEP Executive Director. “Closing academic gaps can’t be done without advancing civil rights and with the State’s help, our schools can do that while designing better ways to create safe schools where all students learn.”

Robinsdale School District: “We are looking forward to working with partners such as the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to ensure a positive and supportive school climate where all students can develop their unique potential and positively contribute to their community,” said Robinsdale Superintendent Dr. Carlton Jenkins. “We must work together to address local, state, and national disparities so we can truly inspire and educate all of our children.”

Dugsi Academy Charter School: "If students are away from school due to a suspension, then that's time taken away from their learning and not being able to achieve their potential,” said Warsame Warsame, Dugsi Academy educator and board member. “Although schools strive to have a calm and safe place for all students, it's equally important for schools to find solutions that keep our struggling students in the classroom. As a Board member and as a classroom teacher, I'm very pleased with the leadership role that Mary Stafford and the TrueNorth have taken in solving this issue. We are also thankful to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights for their leadership and support."

PACER: “PACER supports the collaborative efforts of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, school districts, and charter schools to address discipline disparities,” said Paul Goldberg, PACER Executive Director. “Through our work with families of children with disabilities, we see the negative impact that exclusionary discipline practices have on students’ ability to learn. We appreciate that the agreements reached offer opportunities for parents, students, and school staff to work together to develop policies focused on maintaining positive learning environments that support improved academic outcomes for all students, including those with disabilities.”

The agreements between MDHR and these school districts and charter schools are in effect through 2021 and provide: 

• Districts and charter schools will implement a three-year plan to ensure that data collection, discipline policies and behavior management strategies are faithfully implemented across the entire system; 
• Districts and charter schools will provide semi-annual reports to the Department to detail their efforts undertaken to implement their behavior plan. They will also account for the training districts and schools provided to their personnel and the qualitative assessment of practices and policies; 
• Districts and charter schools will participate on a Diversion Committee created by MDHR in which they will to share best practices to reduce suspensions and eliminate disparities, implement implicit bias training and increasing student engagement; 
• School Boards and Superintendents/Principals will offer meaningful opportunities for parents, students, school personnel and the larger community to provide feedback concerning their discipline policies; and 
• MDHR, in collaboration with MDE, will publish technical guidance on best practices to reduce suspension and expulsion disparities for all students.

The agreements do not involve student discipline decisions made by school officials when safety was a concern or a student was in possession of a weapon or illegal drugs. Rather, agreements focus on suspension decisions such as disorderly and disruptive behavior, verbal abuse and other non-violent offenses. More than a third of all suspensions and expulsion decisions reported throughout Minnesota every year are for ‘insubordination, disruptive and disorderly conduct.’ 

Examples of disrespectful behaviors could include swearing, rolling of the eyes, making inappropriate remarks or sounds in response to a request, walking away from a staff member before a conversation is over or talking back to a staff member. 

Minnesota suspensions data reveal disparities, opportunities to address barriers 

MDHR analysis of public data reported through the Minnesota Department of Education’s Discipline Incident Reporting System (DIRS) showed that that in Minnesota, students of color comprise 31 percent of the population, yet receive 66 percent of all suspensions and expulsions; students with disabilities comprise 14 percent of the population, yet receive 43 percent of all suspensions and expulsions. 

MDHR reviewed five years of the most recent DIRS data. The DIRS data before the Department indicated that:

• American-Indian students were ten times more likely to be suspended or expelled than white peers. 
• African–American students were eight times more likely to be suspended or expelled than white peers. 
• Students of color were twice more likely to be suspended or expelled than white peers. 
• Students with disabilities were twice more likely to be suspended or expelled as their peers without a disability.

If you believe you have been discriminated against in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act, please contact MDHR’s enforcement unit at 651.539.1100, 1.800.657.3704 or online at mn.gov/mdhr/intake. For more information about disability discrimination, please visit mn.gov/mdhr or follow the conversation on Twitter at Twitter at @mnhumanrights.

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Minnesota Department of Human Rights, Communications Department
Freeman Building, 625 Robert Street North, Saint Paul, MN 55155
mn.gov/mdhr, MDHR YouTube Channel

Contact MDHR Communications

651.539.1118

Christine.Dufour@state.mn.us