In Durham, NC, A Troubling Study On Black Students’ Suspensions And Expulsions Prompts ‘EPiC’ Response

Black students were shown to be punished at a much higher rate.

After a study showed the difference in suspension and expulsion rates between Black students and white students in Durham, North Carolina, a local nonprofit decided to take action.

Empowered Parents in Community (EPiC) hosted a forum Dec. 5 to discuss the discipline disparities Black students experience in Durham County. During the meeting, community members shared their stories of the discipline they faced in the school system.

The study, by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, found that out of the 217,000 students suspended from the North Carolina Public Schools during the 2021-2022 school year, 51% were Black. In Durham County, over 2,400 of the 3,424 students were suspended, and close to 80% of students serving long-term suspensions were Black. During the same year, 65% of students who were expelled were also Black.

Brittani Clark, program manager at EPiC, believes part of the reason is the lack of diversity among the staff.

“There is a clear pattern here in North Carolina as to how students are excluded from school and learning through discipline and suspensions. This pattern is consistent with racial disparities,” Clark told WRAL.

EPiC’s leader, Jovonia Lewis, hopes to change the narrative of behavioral practices through their program so that these numbers aren’t so staggering in years to come.

“We believe that our schools must treat every child as equal, especially in situations of conflict and disagreement,” Lewis told WRAL. “Our unique programs focus on parent empowerment and advocacy…With the goal of disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline, our monthly community forums bring those with lived experiences together to find solutions.”

Lewis and her team are leading the fight to close the diversity gaps in all aspects of the school systems, aiming for every child to have specific opportunities. A few years back, Lewis learned her son was gifted in math and science and believed he wasn’t being challenged enough at school. It wasn’t until she started talking to other parents that she learned about North Carolina’s Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) Program.

“I got that information on a playground. But when I looked around, there were no other parents that looked like me out there,” Lewis said, according to Spectrum News. “There’s things that we also take for granted or what’s happening in the school system. And you don’t know. You just don’t know.”

Out of all the students enrolled in the state program, data from April 2022-2023 pulled by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction shows only 10% were are Black, compared to 65% being white.