Racial disparities in school discipline in Collier County, Florida

Racial disparities in school discipline have existed throughout America's history. Schools suspend Black students at higher rates than White students for similar or lesser levels of poor behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine whether these racial disparities existed in our local community of Collier County, Florida, and, if present, to determine whether these disparities had decreased between the 2013-14 academic year and the latest year for which we had data (2020-21). We analyzed data from the Florida Department of Education Office of Safe Schools regarding disciplinary outcomes in Collier County public schools in 2020-21. Black students were 2.98 times more likely to receive in-school suspensions and 2.38 times more likely to receive out-of-school suspensions than White students in 2020-21, which supported our first hypothesis. However, our second hypothesis was not supported, as the racial discrepancy in Collier County increased for in-school suspensions and decreased minimally for out-of-school suspensions over those seven years.