Preston Maness ☭<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://texasobserver.social/@TexasObserver" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>TexasObserver</span></a></span> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://texasobserver.social/@josephinelee" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>josephinelee</span></a></span> </p><p>>In Beaumont ISD, law enforcement referrals disproportionately affect Black students. OCR data for the 2021-22 school year shows Black students comprised 75 percent of students arrested by school law enforcement, even though they made up 60 percent of the student population that year. TEA records show Black students made up 60 percent of the district’s student population in the 2023-24 school year, but they accounted for 85 percent of students who received out-of-school suspensions and were moved from schools into the disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP), where students receive online education under surveillance and which criminal justice advocates refer to as a step in the school-to-prison pipeline. <br>><br>>Statewide, Black students made up less than 13 percent of all students enrolled in public schools in 2023-24. But TEA data for that year reveals that Black students accounted for 31 percent of students who received out-of-school suspensions and 22 percent of students sent to DAEP. </p><p>"Online education under surveillance?" That sounds awful, especially if your internet connection is spotty.</p><p>>Relying on local law enforcement and school districts to enforce federal, state, or local policies without oversight is challenging, Hairston said. “Generally, districts don’t have much, in my experience, willingness to stand up against the culture of school policing and the abuse that so many Black and brown children face at the hands of school police officers,” he told the Observer.<br>><br>>According to Texas Education Agency spokesperson Jake Kobersky, the agency does not investigate complaints of racial discrimination that might violate the Civil Rights Act, adding that “Such complaints are referred to the USDOE Office of Civil Rights.” </p><p>That's basically an admission that, so long as the federal Department of Education is under Trump's control, the states can let their racism fly unfettered.</p><p><a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/texas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>texas</span></a> <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/doe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>doe</span></a> <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/DepartmentOfEducation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DepartmentOfEducation</span></a> <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/education" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>education</span></a> <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>trump</span></a> <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>racism</span></a> <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/CivilRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CivilRights</span></a></p>