First of two parts
(See pdf below)
A lingering strand of legacy from the regime of fired LAUSD Supt. John Deasy:
After Mr. Deasy led a campaign to lighten up on disciplinary actions against all students, especially blacks, because, he argued, punishments against blacks had become unacceptably “disproportionate,” the Los Angeles Daily News two weeks ago reported the first results of a new era of softer discipline.
Suspensions of all students plummeted a whopping 25 percent last school year – and not because the boys and girls were behaving exemplarily.
Even after leniency was introduced, though, blacks again led the parade of worst behaving students by a spectacular margin. Although blacks comprise a mere 9 percent of the LAUSD student body, they represented one-third of the most severely punished, according to the state Dept. of Education data.
After being ousted last October, one of Mr. Deasy’s bragging points was that he had reduced student suspensions from 48,000 to fewer than 8,000.
One controversial explanation for the steep decline during Mr. Deasy’s four years was that the School Board voted in May 2013 to eliminate such harsh punishment for students guilty of “willful defiance.”
Three months later, just as the 2013-’14 school year began, LAUSD issued an 18-page explanation of how it was lowering the bar of its punishment strategy (See attached.)
But the pattern of misbehavior remains unchanged.
Tomorrow: Culver City reports.
(To be continued)
