NAACP delves into school punishment disparity

NAACP delves into school punishment disparity by Valerie Wells

To read this article on the Herald-Review.com website, click here.

Sometimes, a child acts up at school for reasons that have nothing to do with school.

“Many of our children have trauma they’re holding inside, and it’s coming out in anti-social behaviors,” said Alida Graham, a member of the Decatur school board, director of Old King’s Orchard Community Center and a retired special education teacher.

Graham was a panelist at a panel discussion held on Friday at Richland Community College during the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Illinois State Conference. The topic was “school discipline, curriculum, standards and accountability impacting students from low income and racial minorities,” but nearly all the discussion centered on school discipline issues.