Feds: Victor Valley Union High School District Discriminated Against Black Students

Victor Valley Union High School District discriminated against Black students, disciplining them more frequently and more harshly than White students, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

On Tuesday, Aug. 16, the department’s Office for Civil Rights announced it had entered into a resolution agreement with the district, which educates about 11,000 students in Victorville, according to the California Department of Education.

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Those steps include revising district policies, hiring a student services director focused on improving equity, creating an equity task force, improving the district’s own analysis of discipline data, conducting school climate surveys and more.

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The Office for Civil Rights opened its investigation in August 2014, the office’s 39-page letter reads in part.

During its investigation, it found the district had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against students based on race. According to the letter, the office identified a pattern of student disciplinary actions being doled out unevenly, including “multiple removals from school and significant lost learning time for African American students.” {snip}

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{snip} According to a 2012 U.S. Department of Education report, Black students were more than three times as likely as their White peers to be suspended or expelled. And in 2015, a California Department of Education report found that Black students in San Bernardino County received 22.42% of the suspensions in the 2013-14 school year, despite only making up 9% of the student population.

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