Karen Weaver's Fight for Clean Water November 2017 | Page 14

TENNESSEE SCHOOLS
BUSTED Falsifying Displinary Records
In Nashville Tennessee, less than half of the school district's population is black but
black students are suspended from school at a rate of more than 70 percent. The
statistic caught the eye of the federal government, which has required the district to
report data on suspensions. But there's one problem: the school district has now been
caught asking administrators to falsify reporting data.
In 2014 the school district implemented a new set of disciplinary codes. The codes
were supposed to help the district minimize disparities by outlining various student
behaviors, along with the appropriate punishment for each. A local investigative
reporter obtained an internal e-mail, suggesting that principals should change
discipline data, thereby preventing federal investigators from looking at
inconsistencies or suspensions from minor infractions.
CONT’D