A high school freshman is found wandering the halls of his school. He is suspended and sent home. On the way, less than an hour later, he runs into a guy he has beef with and is shot in the stomach twice and dies.

That's what happened to Jawaan Daniels, a freshman at Lafayette High School in Buffalo, N.Y. Now, the Buffalo schools superintendent is vowing to end suspensions for minor infractions; however, it's too late for Daniels, and the entire situation underscores the fact that black boys are treated more harshly by school officials.

In Nashville, Tenn., the middle schools suspended 50 percent of black boys. Nationally, African Americans are subject to more stringent discipline standards and procedures than their non-black counterparts.

For example, black kids in the United States are three times more likely to be suspended than white kids. A Chicago Tribune report found that blacks are suspended at a greater rate than their proportion to the student body in all but one state. In fact, in 21 states, blacks are suspended at a rate double the general student body.

And it's not because they are worse behaved.

"There simply isn't any support for the notion that, given the same set of circumstances, African American kids act out to a greater degree than other kids," Russell Skiba, a professor of educational psychology at Indiana University whose research focuses on race and discipline issues in public schools, told the Tribune. "In fact, the data indicates that African American students are punished more severely for the same offense, so clearly something else is going on. We can call it structural inequity or we can call it institutional racism."

In Buffalo, 30 percent of students at one high school and 20 percent at another were suspended for at least one day last month. I would not be surprised if those numbers are racially skewed. Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams said that suspending kids for minor infractions and paying to send teachers to their home costs millions and is not the answer:

"We have to figure out a way to keep our children in school and make good choices in their lives," Williams said during a press conference. "I don't have the answers, folks, today. I won't have the answers tomorrow. I need help to figure this out."

Well, I have a few answers.



Some of what Williams says is on the right track. I just wish he had come to this conclusion before this tragedy.

"Some of the things we're suspending kids for are not suspendable issues," the superintendent said.

Suspending kids for minor infractions is idiotic and a waste of time and money. Unfortunately, black boys are treated differently when it comes to discipline. This is the beginning of the school-to-prison pipeline. Instead of treating a kid who acts up in school as a kid who acted up in school, they are sent home quickly or treated as adults and arrested or disciplined by police officers.

In wealthier school districts, kids who act out are evaluated for home troubles and learning disabilities. They aren't just suspended and sent home or arrested. This phenomena has as much to do with class as it does with race.



Teachers and administrators have to realize that school is a refuge for many children.

I don't know Williams' home situation, but for some kids who come from unstable homes, school is a place to get a hot meal, a place where they get positive attention from adults, a place where they can interact with their peers safely and a place where they don't have to pretend to be someone they are not.

Keeping kids in school is of the utmost importance. When kids start skipping school, they are setting out on a path that for many leads to destruction. Harsh suspension policies help push people out onto that path.

Young people need adults to set boundaries for them and provide guidance. That guidance has to start at home, but it is supposed to continue in school. If a kid learns that there are no consequences for his or her actions, then the kid is in control.

When you send your child off to school, you are literally entrusting the adults there with a portion of his or her development. That can't happen if kids are being suspended every time they act out.

Williams said the school district spends $2 million to $3 million per year on home instruction once kids are suspended. What a monumental waste of money. Why not keep the kids who commit minor infractions in school and work with them? Use that money for counseling troubled kids or troubled parents.

It's also ridiculous that a 14- or 15-year-old kid had a beef that led to his death. I'm not sure why the perpetrator shot Daniels, but I bet it was another young man. I wonder if that boy should have been in school himself.

I'd also bet the beef was over something inconsequential. Kids develop the values of the streets, where silly arguments and bogus disrespect leads to death if they don't have parents helping them create a sensible value system. That value system needs to include a respect for yourself and others, including those in your community.

This is not just a case of Daniels losing his life, but of another young man who will be headed to jail for a good portion of the rest of his life. Parents, teachers and administrators should work together to find ways to keep kids in school, out of jail and out of the cemetery.