TAMPA, Fla — In January, the Hillsborough County School Board held a workshop. A main topic of discussion was student discipline and concerns about bias.
"The number of referrals being handed to our children of color is unacceptable," said HCPS Board Chair Karen Perez.
"What are we doing to make sure that our educators or administrators aren't carrying bias in and that doesn't have to do with some of these referrals," said HCPS Board Vice Chair Jessica Vaughn.
It came after the community raised concerns about the number of Black and Hispanic students who are being suspended or given referrals.
At the time, the district provided data on the number of referrals, broken down by race. It compares January of 2023 to January of 2024.
It shows that on average, the number of referrals for Black and Hispanic middle school and high school students were about 2-3 times higher than that of white students.
The Hillsborough County NAACP President Yvette Lewis was also, particularly, concerned about the issue of suspensions.
"It's the little things that constantly keep getting them put out of school and put out of school so that's where we come in trying to figure out where the problem lies," said Lewis.
ABC Action News Reporter Rochelle Alleyne spent several months sending emails, making calls, and texting a school district representative to get the data connected to suspensions in county schools.
Upon review, those numbers also paint a picture similar to that of the referral data.
During those same months, the out-of-school suspension numbers for Black and Hispanic students were about 1.5 to 3 times higher than for white students.
At the meeting, the school district's General Director of Climate and Culture Joshua Kristol said they are working to make school leaders aware of possible bias by offering "discipline report cards" to each school.
"I think a lot of times people may not know they're doing it," said Kristol, "I think when they start seeing the data and what's happening they might not realize it and this is about correcting their behavior too at the same time, we're teaching everyone the same thing."
The Title I Supervisor for the school district, Stacy Wrenn, also talked about a new initiative called "Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports" or PBIS. As of January 2024, it was running in 67 district schools.
It's a program aimed at encouraging and rewarding positive behavior in schools—while also looking into alternative interventions for students who may be struggling with their behavior.
"They clearly define the behaviors that they expect to see, and they train their faculty to intervene with those behaviors and an intervention can be a positive reinforcer or a different strategy within the classroom, so it is comprehensive," said Wrenn.
The question now is how well does the program work?
In January the district said that overall discipline was down when compared to the previous year.
But ABC Action News is waiting for the final numbers from the full school year.
A district representative told us that, as of now, they're still being tallied.
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