top of page
Students Lived Experience
Offsetting Racial Divides:
Zero-Tolerance School Suspensions & Restorative Justice Practices
A Lived Reality of Exclusionary Discipline
"Elias"
Elias, a 23-year-old Black male and recent college graduate, shares his experiences of zero-tolerance school suspensions. He recalls the lived realities of expulsion, isolation, and learning on his own. Elias shares several adverse childhood experiences [ACEs], including school removal and separation from his peers.
Important note: ACEs do not include racism, discrimination, or bias. Respondents of the CDC-Kaiser ACEs study were predominantly white middle-aged persons in suburban areas. As a result, those lived realities defined ACEs.
The outcomes of Elias's suspensions denied him access to:
equal and free public education
school-provided meals
peer support
Elias is one of the thousands of Black males suspended from school each year. The most recent data collected by the Office of Civil Rights [OCR] shows that over 920,000 Black males were suspended in 2017-2018. Compared to 2013-2014, this number increased by 400,000.
What are the lived realities post-suspension?
bottom of page