By Sterling Davies | OBSERVER Staff Writer
The Sacramento County Grand Jury has released a report addressing educational gaps within the Sacramento County Unified School District, claiming the district deserves “an ‘F’ grade” for not meeting the needs of its students “with learning, physical, and behavioral disabilities.”
The June 17 report comes on the heels of numerous warnings, recommendations, and lawsuits surrounding the district’s failure to provide adequate special education resources. These incidents, many of which are referenced in the report, have accumulated over the past seven years.
While this is a pressing concern for all 7,000 of the district’s special education students, this issue disproportionately affects the SCUSD’s Black students.
Since 2021, the California Department of Education has found that SCUSD’s special education program has a disproportionate number of students of color. While the department has begun monitoring the district, no changes have been made thus far, meaning that Black students in special education programs face greater consequences.
The SCUSD responded to the report in a press release stating it is actively engaged in “correcting systems that contribute to a disproportionately high number of students in general and Black and African American students, in particular, identified as having disabilities.”
The SCUSD referred to their settlement and agreement with the Black Parallel School Board as their next steps forward.
The Black Parallel School Board works to parallel SCUSD’s work with a larger focus on supporting students of color and providing more resources for parents and guardians. “Our role is to hold the district accountable,” said Carl Pinkston, the operating director of the Black Parallel School Board. “To hold it accountable to improving the quality of education for Black students in particular, which will ultimately impact all students in general.”
In September 2019, the Black Parallel School Board filed a lawsuit against the SCUSD following allegations of the school district segregating special education students, specifically students of color. Students with special education programs or an individualized education plan (IEP) were often grouped into one class together. “Thirty kids are in a class, and 26 of them have an IEP,” Pinkston said.
Additionally, students with learning disabilities – specifically Black students – were disproportionately suspended, expelled, or moved to other schools. This led to a “tipping effect”, as Pinkston refers to it, where certain schools had an alarmingly large concentration of students with special education programs because of larger than usual expulsion or removal rates from other schools.
In June 2023, the district settled with the Black Parallel School Board, and various agreements were made to better help push for a resolution. Part of this agreement was for SCUSD to provide a detailed plan to “drive the implementation of policy, procedure, and data practices, with the intended direct benefit to special education students of the district, and in particular Black students with disabilities,” as noted in the district’s press release announcing the settlement in 2023.
The Black Parallel School Board believes this plan places accountability and responsibility with SCUSD because of the plan’s various measurable goals and metrics that must be met by specific deadlines. Additionally, appointed members will monitor the plan to ensure deadlines are properly adhered to.
While this plan was to be initially proposed 60 days after the June 2023 settlement, it has yet to be released due to the district’s delay. The Black Parallel School Board, however, hopes that, when released, the plan will progress toward resolving the matter. “I think this particular plan is really going to be very impactful and transformative for the district,” Pinkston said. “It really is, in many ways, going to be a wake-up call.” These hopes are echoed by the school district as it aims to follow this plan to respond to the grand jury report and the many incidents that precede this case.
While history has shed light on the school district’s delay in responding to this issue, Pinkston said the grand jury report hopefully adds the needed pressure to incite change and progress. It’s now a matter of waiting for the SCUSD’s plans to move forward and better support the students of the community, Pinkston said.