Although Native American students don’t appear to be disproportionately disciplined at Manaugh Elementary, data from the other two in-town elementary schools paint a different picture.
Data from Kemper and Mesa elementary schools show Native students at Mesa Elementary have been disproportionately disciplined this year, accounting for 43 percent of all referrals while making up less than 30 percent of the student body.
Likewise, Native students at Kemper Elementary accounted for 35 percent of referrals but only a quarter of the population.
The Journal re-examined data from the schools after Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 Superintendent Alex Carter told school board members on March 10 that district teachers and administrators weren’t purposely targeting minority students for discipline. He pointed to data he selected from Manaugh Elementary to bolster his claim.
At the meeting, Carter unveiled an eight-page discipline report from Manaugh Elementary to challenge a Cortez Journal report that connected trauma and disciplinary issues that Native American students encounter.
The Journal story on Feb. 27 included statistics from the district’s own 2014 Indian Policy and Procedures (IPP) report, which revealed that some Native students were disproportionately punished in the school district. According to the statistics, Native students accounted for about half of all disciplinary actions last year even though they made up only about a third of the district’s student population.
Using Manaugh student referral numbers from the current school year only, Carter said it was obvious that Native American students weren’t unfairly disciplined. According to the school’s data, Natives at Manaugh accounted for less than 42 percent of all referrals while making up less than half the student population.
But Kemper and Mesa elementary referral data from the current school year revealed a different story, showing the disproportionately high rates at Kemper and Mesa.
At the March meeting, Carter admitted that the district wasn’t “satisfied with the current state of affairs” regarding the unequal number of minorities that face school discipline charges. He said additional study was needed.
Then he quickly pivoted, telling board members that the number of Native expulsions or suspensions had come much closer to actual ratios of minority students in recent years.
“Contrary to popular understanding, the total number of expulsions has actually declined significantly in 2012-13 and 2013-14,” said Carter.
Carter’s assertions, however, again contradicted the district-wide data he presented to board members. According to the figures that Carter utilized at the March 10 meeting, 80 percent of the district’s expulsions in 2007 were Native students. That number dropped to a low of 29 percent in 2011. Since then, however, the number of Native expulsions has steadily risen: 42 percent in 2012 and 47 percent in 2013.
