Administrators in San Francisco Unified will no longer be able to use “willful defiance” as a reason to
suspend or expel a student, beginning in the 2014-15 school year.
San Francisco’s school board voted unanimously Tuesday to eliminate the controversial category, which has been used disproportionately to suspend African American students in that district and also statewide.
San Francisco joins Los Angeles Unified, which eliminated the category of willful defiance of school authorities or disruptive behavior as a reason to expel or suspend students beginning this school year.
Statewide, willful defiance accounted for 43 percent of all suspensions in 2012-13. African American students, who make up 6 percent of statewide enrollment, accounted for 19 percent of willful defiance suspensions.
In San Francisco, data show that African American students make up about 10 percent of the student body but account for more than half of suspensions and expulsions. Latino students also were disproportionately suspended.
In both San Francisco and Los Angeles, teachers can still remove a disruptive student by sending the student to the principal’s office, to a counselor, or to another teacher’s class. This is not considered a suspension because the student would miss only the one class. However, San Francisco’s board plans to monitor data on such removals as well.
San Francisco Unified eliminates ‘willful defiance’ as a reason to expel or suspend students
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