A Pinellas County-based group, along with the county's school board, is taking a closer look at school suspensions.
Faith and Action for Strength Together held a meeting Monday night in St. Petersburg about the issue. Though not affiliated with Pinellas County schools, school officials did attend.
According to FAST, almost 17,000 out-of-school suspensions were given in Pinellas County last school year. The group said the suspensions disporportionately impact minority students.
"It is extremely frustrating because it’s not as though over the years it has gotten better, it has gotten worse," said local Pastor Robert Ward, who attended the meeting. "We have suffered through curriculums that have been forced upon our schools and communities that are simply not working for our demographics."
The school board is holding a hearing today to discuss a policy change on suspensions - most notably reducing the number of days a student can be suspended. The number of days in which a student can be suspended would drop from up to 10 to no more than five.
School district officials say they are being proactive in addressing discipline disparities.
The district is beginning to see significant reductions in the number of students suspended or arrested, according to Pinellas Schools' Public Information Officer Lisa Wolf.
According to the district, the following results have been recorded:
- 18 percent reduction of referrals issued to all students.
- 19 percent reduction of referrals issued to black students.
- 13.2 percent decrease in out of school suspensions for black students.
- All law enforcement agencies in Pinellas County agreed to a memorandum of understanding in 2014 on how to handle school arrests.
- This has resulted in a 44.8% decrease in arrests from 2012-13 to 2014-15.
A second hearing on the topic will be scheduled at a later date. There must be two public hearings before the topic can be voted on by the school board.