Commission seeks updated data on school disproportionality; Moving in Faith committee reports progress

Commissioners on Sept. 26 said the commission's planning committee "Moving in Faith" has been holding productive conversations about school discipline policy and the disproportionate discipline of Black students in the Evansville schools. Members said the committee has been discussing EVSC discipline practices and that follow-up e-mails and meetings indicated forward movement on attendance and discipline matters. The commission noted the need for more current data on disproportionality in school discipline and the school-to-prison pipeline. The commission identified a prior report by Dr. Kimberly Baker as the most recent formal study and said that data are now outdated. A commissioner said she will meet with Dr. Tranesha Brooks, who runs a consulting firm and is associated with the nonprofit And How Are the Children, to ask about the capacity to update the report and present new statistics to the commission. Commissioners reflected on classroom behavior trends, particularly among younger boys, and discussed alternatives to traditional classroom management that committee members said could reduce disciplinary removals. The commission also noted ongoing work with the CEMA planning committee and the EVSC policy discussions as part of the Movement in Faith committee's remit. No formal motion to commission new data was recorded; commissioners described the next step as a meeting between a commissioner and Dr. Brooks to explore options for updating the disproportionality report.