Related: Video: Black Male Students Suspended In High Numbers
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Metro School Board calls the numbers troublesome but true: Nine Metro middle schools have suspended more than half of all the black boys in the schools.
In some cases, only black boys have been barred from the buildings for causing problems, and regardless of a school's racial balance, it seems it is the group suspended most often.
"We're talking about 9-, 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds," said Vanderbilt University psychologist and human development specialist Maury Nation, who has worked closely with some of the suspension-prone schools for the past year.
At Jere Baxter and W.A. Bass middle schools, more than 60 percent of the black boys and almost 50 percent of white boys have been suspended, thrown out at least once, according to the U.S. Department of Education, as reported by Metro.
JT Moore said it has suspended 58 percent of African-American boys, but just 10 percent of its white males. It's a similar gap at Bellevue: 58 percent suspension among black boys, and 13 percent of white males, according to the Education Department.
The federal statistics don't include why a child is suspended, just how many were suspended.
Metro is required to send these numbers -- from 2006-2007, the most recent at the federal level -- to the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights.
"That's a terrible track record," said attorney Larry Woods, who is suing the school system over inadequate textbooks and resources.
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