DOJ: Wichita Public Schools 'discriminated against students based on race and disability'

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) -- The U.S. Department of Justice says it has completed its Wichita Public Schools USD 259 investigation and found discrimination against students based on race and disabilities.

"We don't know what may have prompted the initial inquiry, but I can tell you we can, and we must create a more equitable school district, and we will do so by changing some of our practices and procedures going forward," Kelly Bielefeld, WPS Superintendent, said after the investigation results were made public.

The investigation

The DOJ investigation examined the District’s 87 schools and special programs from the fall of 2020 through the spring of 2023. Investigators reviewed thousands of documents and interviewed dozens of people, including administrators, school staff, local advocates, and parents.

They also toured and interviewed staff at 17 schools, including schools with programs that exclusively or primarily serve students with disabilities, schools with restraint and seclusion or discipline practices, and schools with security officers and School Resource Officers.

Department of Justice conclusion

"Our investigation concluded that, during the Relevant Period, the District discriminated against students based on race and disability," the DOJ wrote to the school district's law firm. "In particular, we substantiated allegations that the District discriminated against Black students in its administration of school discipline and referral of student conduct to law enforcement. We also found evidence that the District denied students with disabilities equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from its education program."

Treatment of Black students

The DOJ says it found that Black students were disciplined more frequently and more severely than white students who engaged in similar conduct and had similar backgrounds and disciplinary histories.

Investigators say this was most evident when it came to subjective offenses such as insubordination and was "especially stark when it came to discipline of Black girls, whose behavior was repeatedly characterized using stereotypical terms like 'attitude' or 'drama.'" The department’s review found Black girls faced high levels of exclusion for dress code violations at certain middle schools.

The DOJ says it found a pattern of security officers responding to routine discipline matters and escalating those incidents, resulting in the unnecessary referral of Black students to law enforcement for routine or minor misbehavior.

Students with disabilities

When it came to students with disabilities, investigators say the District inappropriately and repeatedly secluded and restrained children for punitive reasons or in response to noncompliance with school rules and staff directives.

"During the period covered by the investigation, students with disabilities received more than 98% of the district’s roughly 3,000 restraints and seclusions," the DOJ said. "At least 44 students experienced 20 or more restraints and seclusions during the period covered by the investigation, and one student was restrained or secluded at least 144 times, including 99 seclusions lasting over 15 hours in total."

Investigators said the District’s schools and classrooms for students with disabilities either lacked student behavior interventions or failed to implement them and ensure their effectiveness. When the DOJ visited the District’s special schools for students with behavioral disabilities, it found "inferior facilities devoid of furniture, educational equipment and the kinds of decor commonly found in schools, and staff who could not meet the needs of students."

“Black students inside our nation’s public schools should not have to face discipline or a referral to law enforcement because of their race. And students with disabilities should not have to experience the trauma of seclusion or improper restraint,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a news release. “Schools in our communities should not be a place of fear or mistrust. This agreement upholds our core principles of ending the school-to-prison pipeline and protecting our most vulnerable students against all forms of discrimination and segregation.”

Wichita Public Schools' response

The DOJ says Wichita Public Schools fully cooperated with the investigation. On Tuesday, the DOJ and WPS jointly announced a settlement agreement.

Then, WPS leadership held a news conference to discuss the findings and what happens next. Superintendent Bielefeld said he wants to focus on the future.

"I don't want to point fingers to the past or, you know, make any excuses for what's gone on before," he said. "Instead of looking in the rearview mirror, I prefer to look forward, you know, like I said, I do believe we can, and we will be more equitable as a school district."

Racial discrimination?

Bielefeld was asked about the DOJ's findings of racial discrimination.

"There's a lot of African-American families in our district that probably have experienced it, right, or have felt that this is real, that there are differences between how discipline has been administered," he said. "Whether that is perception or reality, I think the point for me is that we can and will do better moving forward."

School-to-prison pipeline?

Dr. William Polite is the executive director for WPS Equity, Diversity and Accountability. He spoke about the DOJ's reference to a school-to-prison pipeline.

"Do kids from our schools end up in jails and prisons? Yes," he said. "Things do happen in school that can contribute. The unfair disciplinary practices can contribute, but we also have to look at the community-to-prison pipeline as well."

Polite said many children bring issues from the community into the school, and those issues come alive and escalate.

"Those are the things that Kelly (Bielefeld) and our team are talking about -- how can we engage in such a way that it doesn't lead to that school-to-prison pipeline," Polite said.

Seclusion of students

Melissa Zimmerman heads the newly created WPS Office of Behavior Management Support and Oversight. She spoke about secluding students.

"We do not use seclusion as a disciplinary measure," she said. "We use it as a last resort when students are unsafe. Seclusion is when a student is placed alone in a room, or they are under the assumption that they are not allowed to leave of free will."

Zimmerman said her office will work directly with staff, students and administration when an emergency safety intervention occurs.

"We'll be adding some parent debriefs, principal debriefs, student debriefs, and some oversight pieces where our office will go in and work directly with those people to help make sure that we've got de-escalation techniques involved," she said. "We've got best practices that are going to be trained over the course of this year."

New code of conduct

The settlement agreement calls for a new code of conduct in Wichita Public Schools. The District must present it to the DOJ by Oct. 15.

Dr. Vince Evans, assistant superintendent of WPS Student Support Services, plans to get input on the new code from anyone who wants to participate.

"The new code of conduct that we are going to need to create will improve consistency and equity in our district for how discipline is handled with our students," he said.

Evans said the goal is to roll out the new student code of conduct on Jan. 1.

Settlement agreement

The new code of conduct is just one of the actions the District has agreed to as part of the settlement agreement:

• Develop a district-wide code of conduct, standardize dress code policies and create a behavior intervention protocol to ensure the nondiscriminatory administration of discipline and prohibit unnecessary exclusion of students from the school environment;
• Create a system of district-level monitoring of schools’ administration of discipline to ensure nondiscrimination;
• Ensure that school security and law enforcement only become involved in student misbehavior in appropriate circumstances and thereby avoid criminalizing routine school discipline matters;
• Eliminate the use of seclusion;
• Restrain students only when their behavior poses an imminent danger of serious physical harm to the student or another person, properly document all restraints and provide students who are restrained or secluded with required interventions;
• Ensure that only professionals with the requisite expertise and training run and staff specialized schools for students with disabilities;
• Provide counseling and compensatory education to students who have been repeatedly secluded; and
• Create an office to monitor the District’s restraint practices (and seclusion until it is eliminated) to ensure compliance with the agreement and assist district staff in providing required interventions and supports.

Bielefeld said it may feel like Wichita was singled out, but the DOJ investigates school districts nationwide.

"The reality is this is, has been fairly systematic, I think, from the Department of Justice to find districts like ours and make examples of them, right, for the rest of the state, to get us to improve," he said.

The District has posted more details about the investigation and the settlement at USD259.org/doj.