TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — For the 2017- 2018 school year, Florida suspended more than 144,000 students.
Of those students, 63 percent were black or Hispanic. And in Leon County, that percentage is about the same.
WTXL ABC 27's Jada Williams was live Friday morning to tell how are those numbers impacting our community.
Many parents say they have noticed the disparity and are calling for a change. Meanwhile, organizations around town are trying to help the children remained focused and in class.
Talethia Edwards' son found a pocket knife at school and turned it in to his teacher, but he was given out-of-school suspension for not handing it over immediately.
"As soon as I found that out, I began to research. The punishment he was receiving was too harsh," Edwards said.
Edwards says she found something bigger than her son.
Black students are 4.4 times more likely to get an out of school suspensions than white students in Leon County.
"I don't think any reasonable person would assume that our white students are more reasonably behaved than our black students," she said.
Michelle Gomez, the Executive Director of the Oasis Center for Women and Girls, looked deeper into the numbers, finding that there are more girls being suspended overall than for any individual race - other than black.
"We can infer that most of the girls suspended are black girls and that's a problem that we need to address."
Girls Circle with the Oasis Center is one step to addressing the problem.
The organization focuses on social and emotional learning for grade school girls to help keep them focused in class and out of trouble.
"Girls of all races are important and there is something happening with black students, with girls in our school system and we need to look more closely at it and see how we can support them."
Edwards and Gomez believe that support lies within open communication between the schools and the communities.
Edwards says that while her son is back in school, her work dismantling the system is just starting.
She says her son had a hard time dealing with the suspension and will start to see a counselor about what happened.
