The Stockton Unified School District has agreed to address discrimination against minority students and those with disabilities when it comes to discipline following a California Department of Justice investigation.
The investigation found that the district used school police often unnecessarily to settle problems in the classroom. Black and Latino students and students with disabilities were most often discriminated against, and search and seizure practices were sometimes unconstitutional.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra said students were unfairly diverted into a school-to-prison pipeline.
“The more that we direct students into the criminal justice system for things that should be resolved between a teacher or a principal and student, it’s up to us to make sure we don’t create this pipeline that sends our kids to the wrong place,” Becerra said.
Becerra said Stockton Unified has already taken steps to keep students from being criminalized for minor misconduct.
“They will not be routed into the criminal justice system unnecessarily,” Becerra said. “Where there is a problem, it’s addressed by teachers and principals first and only as a last resort by police.”
The agreement, which must still be approved by the court, sets in motion a five-year monitoring program.
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