REPORT: Black students 11 times more likely to be referred for disorderly conduct in RCS than White students

HAMLET — According to an ACLU report, “The Consequences of Cops in North Carolina Schools”, Black students are eleven times more likely to be referred for disorderly conduct in Richmond County Schools than White students.

From the six-year data set published from the report, there were 110 referrals for Black students and 13 for White students in Richmond County from 2017 to 2023. White students make up 47.75% of the youth population and Black students account for about 36% of the youth population in Richmond County.

“Richmond County Schools reports annual discipline data to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in accordance with federal and state reporting guidelines,” stated Richmond County Schools Executive Director of Communications Kylie DeWitt in an email. “Disorderly Conduct” is a discipline action that is reported. Based on our data the numbers in the [ACLU] report are accurate.”

Statewide, the data reflects that Black students are more than five times more likely than White students to be referred for disorderly conduct.

“At Richmond County Schools, our top priority is providing a safe, positive and equitable learning environment for all students,” shared Superintendent Dr. Joe Ferrell. “Any potential racial disparities in discipline outcomes certainly warrant additional review.”

The U.S. Department of Education defines referrals to law enforcement as an action by which a student is reported to any law enforcement agency….”for an incident that occurs on school grounds, during school-related events or while taking school transportation.” Nationwide, statewide and local data all indicated that referrals have skyrocketed post-COVID.

Richmond County ranks similar to Lee County (110 Black referrals, 41 White referrals) and Wake County (139 Black referrals, 13 White referrals) in the overall ratio. In Mecklenburg County, there were 266 referrals for Black students and zero for White students.

“We are committed to continuous improvement when it comes to enacting fair and unbiased practices that support every student’s success,” Dr. Ferrell continued. “I welcome feedback and productive conversations on how we can continue to better serve our students. Equity is an issue that I take very seriously for our district.”

When a referral is made, a school-based complaint is filed with North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety’s Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. According to a NCDPS 2022 report, the top primary reports of school-based referrals were simple assault, disorderly conduct or a simple affray (fight).

The ACLU report also logged school-based complaint data from 2017-2022.

““School Based Complaints” is not a discipline action that is reported,” DeWitt said. “Therefore, we have no way of knowing what data was used to compile these numbers and cannot verify the accuracy of those numbers.” A follow-up email to the ACLU inquiring how this data was aggregated did not receive a response.

According to the data-set published by the ACLU, there were 386 school-based complaints for Black students and 119 complaints for White students in Richmond County. The report notes that racial disparities varied widely between counties.

In that five-year span, schools in twenty-five North Carolina counties have referred only Black students for disorderly conduct, and in 21 of those 25 counties, Black students account for less than 50% of the youth population. Of 33 counties that conducted 50 or more total referrals, six did not refer any White students. Seventeen counties in North Carolina only reported White students and referred zero Black students — many of these counties were clustered in the Southwest corner of the state.

According to Juvenile Justice, complaints may be closed, or a student and a legal guardian may enter into a diversion program approved by a court.

According to the 2022 Juvenile Justice County Data book, there was a total of 432 delinquent complaints received in Richmond County that year. 12 of those complaints fell under a Violence Class A-E category and 90 of those complaints were serious Class F-I misdemeanor.

In 2022, there were 26 juveniles detained in Richmond County. 150 youth were served by a Juvenile Crime Prevention Council community program. From 2022 data, there are 5,312 children in Richmond County between the ages of 8 and 17.

There was a total of 35,994 delinquency complaints in North Carolina in 2022, compared to only 24,294 in 2019. Complaints have risen precipitously post-pandemic, mirroring the school referrals for disorderly conduct.

Suggestions from the report include decriminalizing normal childish behavior, repealing “disorderly conduct in school” laws, ending the regular presence of law enforcement in schools which “disproportionately harms students of color”, and requiring equity assessments of police impact. A suggestion from the report is to prioritize funding for school-based mental health providers rather than police.

The full report can be found online at: https://www.acluofnorthcarolina-bts.org/cops-in-schools. The report states that law enforcement referrals are “arbitrary and discriminatory” and questions spending millions of dollars on law enforcement officers in schools.