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| November/December 2024 | BAEC Bulletin
BAEC Bulletin | November/December 2024 |
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IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE: WESTERN NEW YORK LAW CENTER
Building Community Partnerships and Systemic Change The SDP has expanded its reach and partnerships as it enters the 2024-2025 school year, now staffed by an attorney, a law clerk, and a paralegal. Weekly walk-in clinics at the Merriweather Library on Buffalo’s East Side provide families with accessible legal assistance. Cases are also accepted through the Suspension Hotline. The SDP, NYCLU, Partnership for Public Good (PPG), LAB and CAO WNY are focused on comprehensive policy advocacy. Together, we drafted a proposed suspension policy for BPS, aligning with 2022 recommendations from the New York State Education Department (NYSED). Key components of the policy include: • Eliminating suspensions for students in grades K-3, • Ending suspensions for minor infractions, • Capping suspension lengths at 20 days, • Ensuring alternate instruction for students during suspensions. This draft policy, which is being circulated amongst board members, the superintendent, and other stakeholders, has the potential to reduce suspensions by 1,500 to 2,000 annually. The coalition plans to formally submit it to the Board of Education in January 2025. Looking Ahead Buffalo’s suspension crisis reflects broader systemic inequities tied to race, disability, and poverty. Addressing these issues demands a multi-faceted approach that combines legal advocacy, community organizing, and policy reform. With dedicated partners and a growing coalition, the SDP is poised to drive meaningful changes in Buffalo Public Schools, ensuring that every child has access to an equitable education and the opportunity to thrive. If you are interested in becoming an attorney or lay volunteer, please contact schools@wnylc.net.
BY SAMANTHA I.V. WHITE
WNY Law Center’s School Discipline Project: Advocating for Equity & Addressing Buffalo Public Schools’ Suspension Crisis For over a decade, families and community partners in Buffalo,
Many residents of the city live in substandard, lead- contaminated housing, which directly contributes to developmental disabilities in children. Recognizing this, the WNYLC approaches education and housing as interconnected issues, requiring integrated advocacy, litigation strategies and reform. The School Discipline Project’s Mission and Impact The SDP provides representation in long-term suspension hearings and select short-term suspension matters. It also advocates for students with disabilities at Committee on Special Education (CSE) meetings and files appeals to the Board of Education, the New York State Commissioner of Education, and the NYS Board of Regents. The project’s impact extends beyond individual cases. In spring 2022, the SDP joined the Buffalo Suspension Hotline Coalition, a partnership that includes the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Legal Aid Buffalo (LAB), the University at Buffalo Law School, Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition (ECRJC), and other community organizations. Through coordinated efforts, the coalition successfully pressured BPS to revise its short-term suspension appeal process in the 2023-2024 school year, empowering families to file appeals directly with the NYS Commissioner of Education. During the 2023-2024 school year, the SDP conducted “Know Your Rights” presentations that engaged over 500 parents and students. Free legal representation through the SDP significantly increased the likelihood of favorable outcomes for students, including: • Dismissals of unfounded allegations, • Reductions in suspension lengths, • Securing necessary services for students with disabilities, • Prompt return to school for students subjected to undocumented suspensions.
NY, have been rallying to address alarmingly high suspension rates in Buffalo Public Schools (BPS). These efforts target not only the excessive use of suspensions but also the stark racial and economic disparities that plague the system. In 2023, the Western New York Law Center (WNYLC) joined this movement by launching the School Discipline Project (SDP) , a program dedicated to representing students and families at no cost during suspension proceedings The need for intervention is clear. During the 2023- 2024 school year, data revealed that Black students in Buffalo were: • 2.5 times more likely to receive short-term suspensions, • 3.8 times more likely to face long-term suspensions compared to their white peers. Students living in poverty were suspended at 2.5 times the rate of their economically stable counterparts, while students with disabilities were suspended at 1.7 times the rate of their non-disabled peers. The intersection of race and disability paints an even bleaker picture: Black students with disabilities were 6.5 times more likely to face suspension than white, non-disabled peers. These disparities are rooted in Buffalo’s long-standing socio-economic inequities, including its hyper- segregated neighborhoods and history of redlining. and advocating for systemic reforms. Stark Disparities in Suspension Rates
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