Sacramento school board seeks feedback on new equity policies based on lawsuit settlement
Sacramento City Unified School District will host families of Black/African students and students with disabilities in a community forum to give feedback on district policies and recommend improvements that reflect their needs.
The event is a part of the district and the Black Parallel School Board’s action plan to improve conditions for Black and disabled students, which was born out of a settlement agreement between the two entities in 2023.
In 2019, the Black Parallel School Board (BPSB) alongside three students petitioned the court to reform the district’s procedures to identify and provide accommodations for all eligible students, claiming that the system resulted in segregation and mistreatment of students with disabilities, particularly Black students with disabilities. The two parties settled the case four years later on the condition that the district abide by a BPSB-recommended action plan to help these students.
The plan includes 22 directives with 166 actions to improve academic outcomes for Black and disabled students. Tuesday’s Race to Equity policy event held at the Serna Center, 5735 47th Ave., addresses the directive to review and update board policies corresponding with these directives to “ensure attention to equitable and just outcomes.”
The BPSB action plan includes goals to revise these policies, but the independent monitor tasked with enforcing the plan is soliciting feedback from community members before bringing them back to the board for approval.
Some of the board policies being reviewed include those related to promoting diversity among the workforce, questioning and apprehension by law enforcement, suspension/expulsion due process and identifying/evaluating students with disabilities.
One of the BPSB’s goals is for the district to minimize the use of restraints and law enforcement interventions for Black students and students with disabilities after a review of data found that the large majority of students who experienced restraints were students with disabilities. Students with disabilities, especially Black students with disabilities, were also most likely to be referred to law enforcement.
BPSB recommends updating district discipline policies to specifically address disability-related behaviors without the use of restraint, law enforcement interventions or expulsion. A review of data also showed that Black students and students with disabilities were disproportionately disciplined — Black students with disabilities were nearly three times as likely to be suspended than a white student without a disability.
They also recommend updating special education policies that don’t conform to current law to ensure that special ed assessments are delivered equitably to reduce the likelihood of over- or under-identifying students with disabilities.
The action plan’s implementation remains in effect through the end of the decade.
