LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Numbers from the Nevada Department of Education show thousands of students were caught in school fighting and with drugs and alcohol.
The data was presented on Wednesday before the Nevada Board of Education and included the figures from the Clark County School District.
Suspensions and expulsions are down, yet for black students, there is a disparity in discipline and the state has taken notice of the gap.
“If a school is having discipline disparities, what are the kind of things and interventions we need to do as a community, and as schools to work together to make sure these types of disparities stop,” Christy McGill, deputy superintendent of public instruction said on Wednesday.
McGill cited the implementation of two laws passed last year that require the Nevada Department of Education to develop a framework for restorative justice practice at schools. This is intended to address the disproportionate discipline.
According to the data, the expulsion of black students in Nevada decreased five times from Sept. of 2021 to May 2024 going from 2489 to 572.
However, that isn’t the case for suspensions. The state’s data showed 1,768 black students were suspended in the 2021-2022 school year and 2,347 in the 2023-2024 year.
Black students represented 12% of enrollment in the state. Yet, they made up nearly a third of suspensions and expulsions in the 2022-2023 year.
Here’s a breakdown:
2022-2023
12% – Enrollment
36% – Expulsions
31% – Suspensions
2023-2024
12% – Enrollment
27% – Expulsions
36% – Suspensions
“This is a school and community issue that should be met with partnership,” McGill said.
Nicholas Mathews co-founded King of Jewels to mentor youths of color in the Las Vegas area.
“We introduce them to the people that look like them that are doing things they’re interested in. But we also provide them with the opportunity to be engaged,” Mathews said.
Mathews told 8 News Now the data on black students doesn’t surprise him based on what he hears from children.
“The students still feel unwelcome in most of our schools. They don’t see people that look like them. They walk in the classroom and automatically feel the sense of – people don’t want them to be there,” Mathews said.
Bullying was the number one reason students were expelled from schools, according to the state’s data.
