The state audit released last week looking into how discipline is administered at Oak Park and River Forest High School was intended to help get to the bottom of the school’s discipline gap between black and white students.
Some school and District 200 officials, however, believe it has added to the smoldering tensions between the school and parent advocacy groups. The question many now have is: how can the school and various groups move forward and work together.
Parents groups APPLE and the Citizens Code of Conduct have made no official comments concerning the audit’s findings. The Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education concluded that OPRF’s discipline was administered fairly to students once they were placed in the system. APPLE and CCC have argued that some students were treated unfairly when discipline is handed out.
School officials have publicly said that the state’s findings are consistent with how discipline is administered to the students.
Yet, the number of black students, and in particular black male students, continue to make up a large percentage of discipline cases. African-American students represent about 25 percent of the total student population, but 48 percent of last year’s discipline cases.
The various feuding sides admit there’s a problem, but have been unable to find a starting point to address some of those frustrations. One of the conflicts between the school and parent groups have centered around the sensitive issue of race, specifically whether African-American students are viewed differently than their white counterparts, according to previous complaints by APPLE, and if those differences contribute to some students being placed in discipline.
“It’s such a frustrating issue and it’s frustrating for people on every front,” said John Williams, director of youth services for Oak Park and River Forest Townships.
Youth Services runs a number of student programs in the high school. Williams, who has work with youth services since 1994, said the issue is more complicated than concluding that OPRF’s discipline practices are racist because of the large number of blacks in the system.
“We need to ask different questions,” said Williams. “People think that it is about good guys and bad guys, and if we just get rid of those who we think are bad, the problem is solved. That doesn’t address the problem.”
District 200 Board of Education President John Rigas said the school and the board have grappled with this issue for years. He said he wasn’t surprised by the state agency’s findings in terms of the school’s discipline record, but admitted that some of the numbers in the broad area of discipline are troubling.
“We have to figure out what we’re doing wrong,” he said. “This is something that the board is extremely motivated to work on. I think the school can do a better job in identifying these kids who are at risk.”
The state agency indicated that communication between school officials and parents may have broken down. The agency also acknowledged that some students have a hard time adjusting to OPRF, and that a misunderstanding between students and adults may occur and result in the student being placed in discipline, said Bob Ingraffia, superintendent of the state agency which conducted the audit at the request of local state legislators.
“One of the things we cited was the problem with communication,” he said. “There seemed to be a breakdown in communication within the school. It’s our view that the school can look at ways to better communicate with parents.”
But some school officials believe responsibility in communication is a two-way street. “One of the problems I have with the attacks from APPLE and the Citizens Code of Conduct Committee is that we’ve never received anything concrete,” said Rigas, noting a frustration held by other school officials. “We have a known problem with the number of African-American kids disproportionately in the discipline system, but that is consistent nationwide. It’s not unique to Oak Park.”
While Rigas acknowledges the issue is not unique to OPRF, he agrees with the idea of talking more about some of the issues that have divided the school community.
The school board plans to have Ingraffia formally present his findings to the board at their meeting next. APPLE is planning on doing the same, officials have said. District officials hope all sides can find some common ground.
“If that much time and interest from the community were spent on finding out what works and really looking at this issue long term, and setting up a comfort level to deal with the racial component, maybe we could have come to some solutions,” said Williams.
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