An official at President Joe Biden’s Department of Education is taking issue with discipline in schools.
Fox News reported Kayla Patrick, who works at the department’s Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, claimed school discipline is a “symptom of a racist and punitive system that often fails to see children as children.”
The outlet noted Patrick made the remarks while she worked for a left-wing education organization in 2021.
She explained, “Instead of helping students to learn and grow from mistakes, educators send them into the office, or send them home, or even sometimes call the police. And Black students are more likely to be offended, affected by that.”
According to Patrick, the only way to achieve equity is through addressing “systemic causes.”
Patrick claimed Black girls “are more likely to be disciplined, frankly, because Black girls experience race and sex-based discrimination in classrooms, and they are disciplined often for simply being Black.”
She continued, “For example, in other settings, we would consider self-advocacy or assertiveness a leadership skill. But when Black girls do it in schools they are often suspended for being loud, defiant or talking back.”
Suggesting “these aren’t just consequences,” Patrick said, “These are actions that leave too many Black girls stuck in the school to poverty pipeline. And this doesn’t just happen because Black students inherently behave different than White students.”
Patrick stressed, “They absolutely don’t. This happens because racism is baked into school discipline and dress code policies.”
Additionally, she blamed “whiteness.”
“If we did a review of school discipline policies to make sure that they weren’t antiracist or sexist, we could really better serve students and make sure that they are able to stay in classrooms,” Patrick said.
