District makes progress in discipline equity, superintendent says – Post-Bulletin

Two years into its agreement with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, Rochester Public Schools say the district is making progress.

Superintendent Michael Muoz read through a seven-page, 18-item update to report to the school board that the district is in compliance with the federal office's requirements for monitoring how it handles discipline and other things during a three-year period.

The agreement stems from a September 2015 finding that students of color in the district were disproportionately disciplined compared with their white peers.

Muoz said the district still needs to talk with OCR about how it analyzes discipline data at each school building and has to make additional updates to policies in the student handbook.

While specific details of how both of these will be resolved weren't provided at Tuesday's meeting, Muoz said he's confident in the district's progress.

"We see this as a very good report," Muoz said. "But that doesn't mean our work is done. We'll continue looking forward on the work that we're doing, but it's good to know that we're meeting the requirements of the agreement."

School board members were pleased with the progress, and asked the district to make the letter public by posting it on the district's website.

"I think you get an idea of the depth of reporting ... and how we're doing this systematically throughout the whole district," school board member Gary Smith said. "I think sharing it would be a good thing."

School board members added that even though requirements of the agreement were met, it doesn't mean the work of the district will stop.

"I know that we feel strongly that we're just beginning," said school board member Jean Marvin. "But until we can we can really show that our kids have equity, both in terms of achievement, and referral, that this district is not going to rest."

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District makes progress in discipline equity, superintendent says - Post-Bulletin