Missouri suspends black elementary students at higher rate than all states

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More than 14 percent of black elementary students were suspended at least once in Missouri during the 2011-2012 school year, compared to 7.6 percent of black students nationwide.

Meanwhile, Missouri’s suspension rate for white elementary students mirrored the national percentage of 1.6, according to the report by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at The Civil Rights Project at UCLA.

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St. Louis suspended 29.1 percent of its black elementary students at least once in 2011-2012, followed by Normandy at 21.7 and Riverview Gardens at 21.4. Kansas City also suspended more than 20 percent of its black students.

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“It’s emblematic of problems (in the communities) and indicators of racial bias,” he said. He noted that many districts in Missouri did not have high suspension rates, but the biggest concerns were shown in districts that have high concentrations of black students and poor students.

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