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School Discipline Strategies And Ohio Community Grieves Demolished Power Plant, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, students from poor families are more likely to be suspended from school for bad behavior, and data from West Virginia reflects this national trend. We share an excerpt from our latest episode of Us & Them, where host Trey Kay talks with a Yale University researcher about tailored school discipline strategies.

On this West Virginia Morning, students from poor families are more likely to be suspended from school for bad behavior, and data from West Virginia reflects this national trend. We share an excerpt from our latest episode of Us & Them, where host Trey Kay talks with a Yale University researcher about tailored school discipline strategies.

Listen to the latest Us & Them episode “The Toxic Stew of School Discipline” on May 25 at 8 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting, or tune in for our encore broadcast on Saturday, May 27 at 3 p.m.

Also, in this show, the Allegheny Front, based in Pittsburgh, is a public radio program that reports on environmental issues in the region. We listen to their latest story about the loss of a coal-fired power plant and what it means to the community.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.

Caroline MacGregor is our assistant news director and produced this episode.

Chuck Anziulewicz hosted this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

The ‘Toxic Stew’ Of School Discipline

In schools across the nation, when students of color misbehave, they are disciplined at twice the rate of white students. That means Black and brown students are more likely to face suspension or expulsion. West Virginia lawmakers worry students are not facing the right consequences for their misbehavior. A new state law is designed to make schools safer. In this episode, Us & Them host Trey Kay looks at new approaches to school discipline.

Across the nation, students of color and those from poor families are more likely to be suspended from school, and data from West Virginia reflects this national trend.

In fact, research shows when a teacher thinks a student of color is misbehaving on purpose, they’re more likely to get suspended or expelled. Missing just two days of school each month makes a student less likely to graduate, which has a big impact on their prospects for the future.

On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at discipline disparities in our schools – a new West Virginia law designed to get tough on misbehaving students – and the way one alternative Kanawha County school gives students the support to recover.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Daywood Foundation and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

Teacher Ash Setterstrom, counselor Billie Walker and principal Wayman Wilson are part of the staff at the Chandler Academy in Charleston, WV. Chandler is for students who’ve been expelled or removed from one of Kanawha County’s eight high schools or 13 middle schools. Chandler’s goal is to get students stabilized and send them back to their home schools, but often that system turns out to be a vicious cycle. Most of the students at Chandler come from low-income families, and about a quarter are Black. Some struggle with mental illness while others have been stigmatized after being expelled from their home school, and almost all of them struggle with low self-esteem. *Credit: Ash Setterstrom*

Ash Setterstrom has taught history at the Chandler Academy in Charleston, WV for six years. She finds it rewarding to work with students who have discipline problems because she was one of them. When she was a student in the Kanawha County School system, she says she hated authority and loved getting suspended. She spent her middle school years — the late 90s — at an alternative learning center like Chandler. *Credit: Ash Setterstrom*

Most of the people who work at the Chandler Academy in Charleston, WV have been there for a long time. They are passionate about what they do. Counselor Billie Walker has been at Chandler for 33 years. *Credit: Ash Setterstrom*

Community members showed up to a school board meeting in St. Paul, MN in February 2023. Many expressed concerns about safety days after a student was stabbed to death in one of the local high schools. *Credit: Matt Sepic/MPR News*

Eric Sloan spoke during a special listening session of a school board meeting in St. Paul, MN in February 2023. The board welcomed speakers to comment on school safety and to share ideas to make St. Paul Public Schools safer after a student was stabbed to death at a local high school days before. *Credit: John Autey/Pioneer Press*

Jayanti Owens is an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management. She’s a sociologist who works on issues of race and inequality in school systems. She works with school districts nationwide on a study to gauge how race affects the response to school behavior.

Schools or districts interested in being involved with the work Dr. Owens is doing to help reduce racial/ethnic disparities in discipline can email to learn more: jayanti.owens@yale.edu

Here’s a link to her study, Double Jeopardy: Teacher Biases, Racialized Organizations, and the Production of Racial/Ethnic Disparities in School Discipline.

*Credit: Jayanti Owens*

Joe Ellington is a delegate from Mercer County, WV and is the current chair of the House Education Committee. In the 2023 session, Ellington co-authored a new state law to make school discipline more rigorous. He’s a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist. *Credit: West Virginia Legislature*

Matthew Watts, senior pastor of Grace Bible Church in Charleston, WV, is a longtime civil rights leader and no stranger to the West Virginia Legislature. He’s fought to close the wealth gap in housing, job training and economic development. He says that he is almost ready to retire, but this issue of school discipline is really important to him and that guilt plays a role. That’s because when he was working with Black kids more than 20 years ago, he did not believe it when they told him their discipline was different than that of white students. In 2015, Rev. Watts and others began paying attention to the reports coming out of academia and the U.S. Department of Education that documented racial disparities in school discipline. For years he tried to get data from West Virginia – and when he finally saw what was going on – he was appalled. *Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Kanawha County is the largest and most diverse school district in West Virginia. Tom Williams, superintendent of Kanawha County Schools, says the new legislation proposed by Del. Joe Ellington will help teachers teach. Williams is hopeful that the new law will give schools all over West Virginia the guardrails they’ve long needed to provide consistency along with flexibility. *Credit: Kanawha County Schools*

State Board of Education Hears Numbers, Next Steps To Address School Discipline

Since the return to classrooms after COVID-19, parents, teachers and education leaders across the country have reported a rise of disciplinary issues in schools. A new resource should help create a greater understanding of the emerging issue.

During the Dec. 14 meeting of the West Virginia Board of Education, State Superintendent David Roach directed the West Virginia Department of Education to expand the scope and depth of the July 2022 School Discipline Report to address issues more effectively and develop a plan moving forward.

At Wednesday’s BOE meeting the creation of a public, statewide dashboard to promote transparency and accountability around school discipline was announced.

Drew McClanahan, state Department of Education director of instructional leadership and school improvement, said the dashboard will help all community members better understand where and how school discipline is occurring.

“This one dashboard will give community members, will give parents, will give everyone the opportunity, to see at the county level even at the school level, what types of discipline interventions are being provided,” he said. “Are we seeing that 80 percent of our students are being suspended? Are we seeing that 66 percent of the time that a student is referred for discipline, they’re put in school suspension? That’s important for our parents. It’s important for our administrators as well because we should be the largest advocate for transparency as we can.”

McClanahan identified four aspects of the state’s response to issues of discipline and disproportionate suspension: training and support, accountability pieces, policy requirements, and responsibility. He said that classroom management training will continue to be offered, as well as school culture training, across the state.

“I think it’s important for next steps that we continue these conversations, that we continue to find the questions,” he said. “Do we have disproportionate numbers? It appears as though we have disproportionate numbers. Why is that? What’s going on? Why are we seeing these issues?”

Georgia Hughes-Webb, state Department of Education director of data analysis and research, presented statewide school discipline data to the Board of Education. One of the biggest takeaways she had from her analysis of the data was the number of instructional days students were losing to suspension and other disciplinary actions.

“As a consequence of those incidents, there were almost 67,000 suspensions given to 28,702 students. For those suspensions both in school and out of school, our students lost almost 178,000 instructional days,” Hughes-Webb said. “Each student who was suspended lost on average six instructional days in the classroom.”

Hughes-Webb also said the data showed significantly higher rates of suspension for Black and foster care students.

“When we look at our foster care students, they lost 9.2 days of instruction due to suspension on average,” she said.

The data showed a similar rate of lost instructional days for Black students, who are disproportionately suspended.

“Black students account for 4 percent of our population, but they also represent 16 percent of all students who were suspended for more than 10 days,” Hughes-Webb said. “So that’s quite a discrepancy.”

The data was not exclusive to suspensions, although according to the presentation 56 percent of disciplinary referrals in the state result in a suspension. Hughes-Webb also looked at rates of formal discipline generally and went on to show that Black and other students of color were more likely to be disciplined than their white peers.

“Although 19 percent of all students were referred for disciplinary incidents last year, 31 percent of our Black or African American students were referred for disciplinary incidents,” she said. “Twenty-four percent of our multiracial students were referred, compared to about 18 percent of our white students.”

Board member Debra Sullivan called the presentation a blueprint and an opportunity to change the dynamic around school discipline.

“That’s going to take a change in perspective,” she said. “Now it’s nobody’s fault. Everybody’s problem. Everybody has to get involved, not just our schools but our families, our businesses, our health care providers.”

Superintendent David Roach pointed towards Communities in Schools as a likely partner in reforming disciplinary issues.

“They make the difference, they make the connection. Teachers can’t make that home connection. They try but they can’t. A counselor can’t do it,” Roach said. “That coordinator can tie in all the agencies, everything, get their visit to home and find the problem and help build a relationship with the school.”

Senate Moves Dozens of Bills As Session End Looms

With just two days left in the session, the Senate passed dozens of bills Thursday. Many of the bills related to issues of education that legislators have made a priority all session.

House Bill 2346 declares a shortage of qualified bus operators and allows retired bus operators to accept employment without losing their retirement benefits.

Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said that an alarmingly large fiscal note that stymied a similar Senate bill from passing had been removed.

“One last important note Mr. President, I’d like to add is that originally, three sessions ago I saw a fiscal note of $999,999,999 and it is now at zero,” Grady said.

During discussion of the bill in committee, Grady – who is a teacher – said she has seen firsthand how the driver shortage is already interrupting students’ education.

The House of Delegates must now approve the Senate’s changes to the bill before it becomes law.

House Bill 2890 modifies student discipline guidelines for schools. The bill was amended twice on the floor to limit the application of new discipline provisions to grades six through 12, and exclude their application to elementary schools.

The new provisions primarily relate to when a student can be excluded from a classroom for behavior that obstructs the teaching or learning process of others. The bill now returns to the House for its approval of the changes.

House Bill 3035, in its original form, was intended to establish the state’s Grow Your Own program to facilitate a career path for high school students to pursue a career in education. However, after extensive amending, the bill no longer contains provisions for Grow Your Own, and is instead the vehicle for several other priority programs.

“This amendment will replace the House of Delegates method of promoting grade level proficiency in English language, arts and mathematics by grade three, which is the Third Grade Success Act that was part of Senate Bill 274, which has already passed the Senate earlier this session,” Grady said. “It would also remove provisions relating to the Grow Your Own program,” Grady said. “The amendment also adds in a modified version of House Bill 3293, which imposes requirements on the state board and local education agencies for addressing learning disabilities, including dyslexia and dyscalculia.”

Senate Bill 274, which had already passed out of the Senate, was similarly and significantly amended by the House Education Committee earlier this week, necessitating the addition of the Third Grade Success Act to House Bill 3035 to ensure it a chance to pass.

The bill is also pending House approval of the Senate’s amendments.

The Senate completed legislative action on House Bill 3224 adds West Virginia Junior College to the list of eligible institutions that can accept PROMISE scholarship recipients.

Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, said the change will help the state address its shortage of nurses.

“West Virginia junior college, they have three campuses around the state and one of the biggest programs that they have is their Registered Nurse program, training nurses at more than 10 locations around the state,” Weld said. “They’ve got an average of 400 students that they do, so I think that this legislation is going to help them build their student enrollment and will help West Virginians who want to become a nurse do so and help us with one of our bigger healthcare crisis that we have in the state.”

After a brief recess just after 1 p.m., the Senate returned to the floor and passed three other education bills.

House Bill 3369 completed legislative action and creates a School Safety Unit within the Division of Protective Services to conduct school safety inspections and make recommendations to county school personnel.

House Bill 3441, which completed legislative action, revises the training requirements for members of the Higher Education Policy Commission, while House Bill 3555 relates to student purchase and refunds of course material and awaits House approval.

Beyond Education

The Senate also passed out House Bill 2814, which would create a Hydrogen power task force to study Hydrogen energy in the state’s economy.

Sen. Randy E. Smith, R – Tucker, chair of the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee, said the task force will look at everything regarding the power source, including sources of potential hydrogen in the state, and recommendations to prepare the state workforce for jobs in the new industry.

“The study will include a review of regulations and legislation needed to guide development of hydrogen energy and an examination of how the state can take advantage of incentives created by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” he said.

The bill only needs its passage to be received by the House to complete legislative action.
Also passed out of the Senate was House Bill 3189, the PFAS Protection Act, which would identify and address sources of so-called “forever chemicals” to reduce toxic chemicals in drinking water supplies. The House must now approve the Senate’s changes to the bill before it becomes law.

With W.Va. School Discipline At Crisis Stage, Remedies Offered

State education groups say school discipline is at a near crisis level. A bill debated in the West Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday is intended to offer educators a tool to limit disruption in the classroom.

House Bill 2890 gives school teachers and administrators more leeway in dealing with disruptive students. The bill attempts to define behavior that results from a personality clash between teacher and student and proposes moving that student to a different environment to protect the integrity of the class. The measure also charges county school boards to implement a preventive discipline program.

Democrats proposed several amendments to the bill, offering corrective safeguards for disruptive students but all were voted down.

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, noted that the state has never implemented a legislative plan passed a few years ago to reduce West Virginia’s nationally leading rate of student suspensions and expulsions. He said the bill does not address root discipline causes.

“We’ve yet to see the plan. So what we’re doing today is the opposite of what this bill set out to do. This bill will lead to increased suspension and expulsion rates in a state that already unfortunately leads the nation in that rate,” Pushkin said. “I would urge you to really think about what you’re voting for here. This is going to be severely detrimental to the future of our state.”

House Education Committee Chair Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, countered that the bill helps provide a better education for all students by properly and fairly dealing with discipline problems.

“Our obligation is to provide a safe and good environment for these children and the staff to be able to teach and learn,” Ellington said. “This bill was trying to help those teachers help those students that are having their education disrupted, but it’s also to help those kids that are being excluded to help them get into a different alternative learning process. Whatever works, that’s what it is. It’s just one extra tool.”

House Bill 2890, modifying school discipline, passed with a 79-16 vote and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Disciplinary Disparities Focus Of Public Comment At Board Of Education Meeting

The Board heard public comment from two individuals concerned with disciplinary issues in the state’s schools, as well as an update on their own disciplinary report.

Early in its Dec. 14 meeting, the West Virginia Board of Education heard public comment from two individuals concerned with disciplinary issues in the state’s schools.

Rev. Franklin Hairston of the Harrison County NAACP spoke first to discuss racial bullying and harassment in schools.

“My goal for being here today is for you to understand that we have a problem in Harrison County, West Virginia, and in other counties all throughout West Virginia, as it pertains to racial bullying, harassment, unfairness and discipline, and a push for academic achievement,” Hairston said.

He listed more than half a dozen incidents in schools where little or nothing was done to address the racial harassment students face, including his own daughter.

“I’ve been addressing issues with race in her schools since she was in the second grade from being called outside of her name, picked on because of the color of her skin, the texture and style of her hair, the build of her body, and she’s even been hit by few male athletes,” Hairston said.

He went on to request disciplinary data for Harrison County schools, but also urged statewide action including diversity in recruitment of teachers and diversity and racial sensitivity training.

“The issues with our children are not just with students, it’s also with our educators.”

The Board is not allowed to deliberate or take action on any topic addressed by a member of the public that is not already on the meeting agenda.

Hairston was followed by Rev. Matthew Watts, who spoke more broadly about the multiple crises facing the state’s poor children. Watts listed several chronic issues impacting low-income children in the state including low labor force participation and poor health outcomes, before focusing on education.

“Probably the most profound crisis we have is in education,” Watts said. “Four reports were produced in the last four months that I thought would have resulted in summits being held all over the state.”

Watts referred to the board’s own School Discipline Report and 2021 Summative Assessment Results, the Higher Education Policy Commission’s College-Going Rate report, as well as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Released in July, the School Discipline Report showed that poorer students were more than twice as likely to be referred for disciplinary action in schools. Both the Summative Assessment and NAEP results showed a drop in academic achievement across the state, while the college-going study indicated less than half of all high school graduates in the state go on to post-secondary education.

“If that’s not a crisis in education, I don’t know what it is,” Watts said. – “It’s pretty profound among poor children, so what I’m here to request is we’ve got to take some action.”

Watts asked the Board to help facilitate discussions in all 55 counties and at individual school levels, on how to address educational issues. He also asked that funds from the American Rescue Plan Act be set aside to help address the issues.

Watts ended by encouraging the Board to develop a suspension tracking system that posts every week online.

“This is a national problem,” he said. “Why can’t we be first in solving something for change? Why can’t we take the lead in West Virginia?”

Discipline was briefly discussed later in the meeting when Superintendent David Roach gave an update on the Student Discipline Report.

He stated that data has been distributed to county and school level leadership, and that the Board of Education directed the Department of Education to expand the scope and depth of the report to address these issues more effectively and develop a plan moving forward.

“Educators, students, families, community partners, and other stakeholders will be involved as part of a comprehensive response,” Roach said. “A detailed analysis and potential action steps will be developed and presented to the West Virginia Board of Education to ensure that all students have equitable access to safe and high quality learning opportunities in West Virginia classrooms.”

Board member Debra Sullivan said she was glad to see progress being made on the issue, and expressed disappointment with the initial report for its lack of actionable items.

“There was really nothing there that you could get your hands on to deal with,” she said.

Sullivan also pointed out the ambiguity of some of the data, and looked forward to greater detail that will better help school leaders.

“I know that you’ll be looking at the various demographics, all the indicators, and not just race, but SES (Socio-Economic Status), and gender, and special ed populations, and are certain special ed populations being cited more frequently than others, the learning disabled versus a behaviorally challenged,” Sullivan said. “There’s such a wealth of information that the schools could use.”