U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Civil Rights Issues in West Virginia

Chapter 3

Treatment of Racial Minorities and People with Disabilities in the Public Schools

When addressing education and civil rights, panelists at the forums highlighted two major areas: (1) harassment and discrimination against racial minorities in public schools and universities, and (2) barriers to educational opportunities for people with disabilities, especially the hearing impaired. The focus in both cases was on elementary-secondary schools, although problems at the university level were discussed briefly. In addition to outlining problems, participants mentioned a number of ongoing efforts and initiatives in the schools and called for stronger proactive measures.

Discrimination Against Racial Minorities in Schools and Universities

Speakers raised four major concerns about the experiences of racial minorities in West Virginia schools and universities:

• Harassment and violence against minority students by their peers, and schools failure to respond consistently.

• Educators low expectations of, and lack of support for, minority student achievement.

• School systems failure to recruit and hire significant numbers of minority professionals, resulting in a lack of minority role models for students.

• A double standard for minority students in the university setting.

Peer Harassment and Violence Against Minority Students

In December 1996, the West Virginia Department of Education adopted comprehensive regulations to prevent and respond to harassment and violence in schools, known as Policy 2421.[1] Noting that harassment against students seemed to be increasing, the regulations, which the state Human Rights Commission and the Hate Crime Task Force helped to draft, require each county board of education to develop a plan for responding to harassment that includes mechanisms for reporting and investigating incidents as well as penalties for violations. In addition, each school board must develop an education program for students to foster an attitude of understanding and acceptance of individuals from a variety of cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds.

Over the past few years, some steps have been taken toward developing the kinds of programs called for by Policy 2421. Especially noteworthy is the West Virginia Civil Rights Team Project, launched in 1999 by the Civil Rights Division of the West Virginia Attorney General's Office. This pilot program in 12 high schools and middle schools trains teams of students to lead violence prevention activities and creates mechanisms for students to report harassment before it escalates to violence.[2]

Nonetheless, implementation of the 1996 policy is far from complete, and organizations in the state continue to receive many complaints of in-school harassment. Rick Wilson, a staff member of the American Friends Service Committee, said that in just the three weeks before the Logan forum, his office received three separate reports of racial harassment and fighting in schools around West Virginia.[3] He said that the issue of violence and prejudice in the school system is very serious and widespread and that schools typically respond ineffectively:

In schools where these incidents happen there's a tendency to deny all this. I don't know how many times I've heard, We don't have a problem here. Once it gets past the denial [stage] the tendency is to use what I call the pixie dust solution, which is to do some kind of brief program and say, There, we've taken care of that, and move on.[4]

Mr. Wilson agreed that adoption of the Board of Education s Policy 2421 is a big step forward, but he questioned whether awareness of the regulations had trickled down to the local schools and noted, I'm not sure how much teeth this rule has. [5]

In the absence of consistent, coordinated responses mandated by school systems, much depends on the responses of individual teachers and school administrators when problems arise. In some cases, these responses involve positive action. Katherine Bankole, director of the Center for Black Culture and Research at West Virginia University, told the Morgantown forum of her daughter's experience with racial taunting:

The first couple of days she went to school she came home crying. She was about 6 years, 6 going on 7, and she said that the reason she was crying was because the children who were all white, she was the only black child were spitting on her because she was African and told her she was a dirty African. And my daughter is West African, so that was very traumatizing for us. . . . We asked the teacher to handle it, and thank goodness we had a teacher who understood that you needed to handle these issues quickly and expediently or they can escalate out of control.[6]

In other cases, complaints have been met with inaction and denial. Debbie Hall, president of the Morgantown NAACP, reported that the NAACP had received complaints of students being called the N word at school.[7] One parent who was concerned about language directed toward her children contacted the school with her concerns and was told by the assistant principal that they are just words. [8]

Educators in the Logan and Mingo county school systems mentioned several ongoing programs, including those under the federally funded School-to-Work program,[9] that contain components aimed at encouraging positive attitudes toward diversity. These include Harmony Week in high schools and middle schools and the CERES program at the K 6 level.[10] On the other hand, attorney Joan Hill, who has a child in the Logan County schools, suggested that existing racial sensitivity programs for younger students are insufficient: My son is 9 years old and a weeklong program on Martin Luther King is not going to get it. [11] She emphasized that serious diversity training needs to begin before high school:

I think [racial sensitivity training] needs to begin at a much younger age because once racial issues and sensitivity issues are presented to students, more likely in high school programs, their mindset on racial issues . . . is already so deeply borne in their head that whatever they hear . . . probably goes unheeded.[12]

Low Expectations for Minority Student Achievement

Several panelists said some teachers and administrators set low expectations for minority students academic achievement and fail to support and encourage them to succeed. Eliza Jane Dillard, a retired teacher from Logan County, said minority and poor students are overlooked and put down :

They aren't getting a fair and equal chance. And not only are the minority children being overlooked, but the poor whites are also. . . . They're not encouraged to go to college. They're made to feel as if they can't do anything but maybe cook and wash out or clean hotels, or maybe sweep.[13]

Barry Bowe, principal of Chandler Elementary School in Charleston, which serves a low-income student population, said, Many politicians, educational administrators, parents, and even teachers have very low expectations for poor children, especially poor children with yellow, brown, or black skin. [14] He detailed his school's efforts to ensure that every student is treated with respect and is permitted and expected to achieve. [15]

Several educators currently in the Logan and Mingo county school systems described programs underway to help all students set and reach high goals. Wilma Zigmund, principal of Logan High School, underscored her school s commitment to equity: We try not to look at color, or financial status or political status. We really try to be fair with all of our students. [16] She mentioned a problem-solving program created specifically for African American female students, and now open to all students, run by an African American professional who volunteers her time.[17] Both Logan and Mingo counties also have the Advisor-Advisee program in their high schools and middle schools, which brings small groups of students into a close personal relationship with a faculty member who provides academic and career guidance.[18]

Rev. Michael Pollard, an African American pastor and social worker, said some teachers openly display negative attitudes toward minorities:

I have had students from my church who have gone through the lower school system and have said that teachers or administrators at the school have made joking remarks about their African American heritage, which they felt to be belittling, but didn't feel like they knew who to go to. . . . They don't feel as though they have advocates within the school system.[19]

At the same time, Rev. Pollard noted that some teachers are sensitive to racial issues. His own son's teacher asked the Pollards advice on whether a particular book that contained racial stereotypes was appropriate for the elementary classroom; when they said no, the teacher opted not to use the book.[20]

Failure to Recruit and Hire Minority Professionals

The question of whether minority children have advocates and role models in the schools turns in part on the issue of minority representation among school system employees. In the Logan County schools, only 2.2 percent of the 950 employees are minorities, compared with 3.6 percent of students.[21] Moreover, some of these minority employees are not teachers or administrators, but service personnel such as bus drivers, janitors, and cooks. In Mingo County, similarly, there are only 17 minority employees among the 600 professional personnel; the rate of minorities among service personnel is twice as high, with 16 out of 300.[22] The Marion County school system has nine black employees out of 1,171.[23]

Rev. Pollard, whose children attend Logan County schools, noted a particular lack of African American teachers below the high school level:

There are African American role models in our communities, but unfortunately our school system is lacking. . . . It will be high school before my son ever sees or encounters a black teacher, an African American teacher, and it's not right.[24]

In Monongalia County, the situation is even more lopsided. The population of the county is 6.8 percent minority, and there are 604 minority students in the county's schools, not only African Americans but also Asian Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians.[25] But only six of the 1,281 full-time school employees are minority less than one-half of 1 percent. All six employees are black, with no representation from the other groups.[26]

Businessman Leonard George said that the number of minorities employed by the Monongalia County Board of Education has declined steadily for a decade, and he charged that the school board has created a chilling environment for its minority students:[27]

We live in a town that had a black mayor for years; we live in a county that has a black member of the House of Delegates, who sits beside me; we live in a county that is the home of the first black West Virginia Supreme Court judge; nevertheless there is a problem with the Monongalia County school board. The hostile environment created by the Monongalia County Board of Education in failing to recruit, hire, and promote minorities not only has a chilling effect in the community in general, but has an irreparable repercussion for preparing Monongalia County students for the diversity they face in their own community and in the world of the new millennium. The role model the Monongalia County Board of Education provides its student body is one of a white segregated world of the 1950s.[28]

Noting that the county school board does not keep records of applications from minorities, Mr. George said:

I have discussed this matter with each of the school board members and I get the same answer from all of them. Answers like: How many minorities apply to work for the Monongalia County school board? and Minorities don't want to work for us because they find better jobs elsewhere, and We don't have many minority employees because there are not many minorities in the county. [29]

Double Standard for Minorities in the University Setting

The Center for Black Culture and Research, a division of Student Affairs at West Virginia University, frequently receives complaints from African American and Hispanic students. Katherine Bankole, director of the center, told the Morgantown forum:

They feel that there are double standards at the [university] in terms of what is expected of black students versus what is expected of white students. For example, a double standard may be if a student misses an examination, the white student may be able to retake the examination and not suffer any repercussion and the black student may not be allowed to take the examination. . . . They often cite . . . rules, policies, procedures, and practices that they feel clearly demonstrate that there is some type of favoritism or dis-favoritism on the part of teaching faculty at the institution.[30]

Dr. Bankole said minority students feel discouraged from questioning whether a practice may be discriminatory, and thus the dialogue on racial issues becomes silent :

Many of our students report issues of faculty discriminating against them and they are retaliated against. Somehow the professor has got even with them for telling, or for implying, or for somehow talking about, a particular issue [concerning] race or racism. . . . I believe that we are all having a dialogue every day, all day, about racism and race relations, but that it is a silent dialogue. A lot of it is going on in our heads; a lot of it is going on in terms of intraracial groups, but not a lot of it is going on interracially.[31]

Barriers to Educational Opportunities for People with Disabilities[32]

In the Morgantown forum, three major concerns were raised about educational opportunities for people with disabilities in West Virginia schools:

• Noncompliance with federal and state laws on special education.

• Climate of hostility and insensitivity to students with disabilities and their parents.

• Barriers to quality education of hearing-impaired students.

Noncompliance with Federal and State Laws on Special Education

Panelists detailed various ways in which state and county educational authorities in West Virginia have failed to comply with key federal statutes on disabilities. These include (1) Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,[33] which prohibits discrimination against persons with a disability by any recipient of federal financial assistance; (2) the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA,[34] which entitles children with disabilities to a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment and based on an individualized education program ; and (3) the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,[35] the key statute outlawing discrimination against people with disabilities in many aspects of public life.

Reed Martin, a Morgantown attorney who has practiced special education law in various states for 28 years, said, West Virginia ranks as low as any state I have ever seen in terms of compliance with the IDEA and Section 504.[36] He based his statement on interaction with more than 1,000 parents in West Virginia over the preceding year, and on the responses his office has received to numerous complaints filed with county, state, and federal agencies.[37]

The school system in Monongalia County, which includes Morgantown, was specifically criticized at the forum. Kent Bryson, a staff attorney with West Virginia Advocates,[38] cited a monitoring report by the West Virginia Department of Education that found the Monongalia County schools out of compliance with IDEA in several respects.[39] Problems cited in the report included:

Failure to hire qualified special education teachers.[40] In Monongalia County, 35 special education teachers did not meet the minimum certification standards for teaching special education. This deficiency existed even though barriers to earning special education certification are not high: a teacher in another field needs only six hours of approved college credit to obtain a permit to teach special education, and special education courses are offered by West Virginia University and four other colleges in the area. Mr. Bryson said the county does not attempt to comply with certification requirements.[41]

Failure to develop adequate IEPs.[42] While the law requires that qualified special education teachers help develop an individualized education program (IEP) for each student with a disability, there was no process in Monongalia County schools to consistently ensure the development of IEPs that include all components required by federal and state law. More than 40 percent of the IEPs reviewed by the state did not contain annual goals and short-term objectives; about one-third failed to specify dates for the initiation and duration of services.[43]

Failure to collect required data.[44] Current and accurate student data were not collected and maintained as required by law; for example, class lists did not match the actual students served, and teachers did not collect the required data on students needs for special education services through the summer.[45]

Failure to eliminate segregated classrooms.[46] Monongalia County schools did not comply with a court order and settlement agreement issued in a 1991 federal court case[47] where the state school superintendent agreed that all segregated (physically separate) special education classrooms located outside of main school buildings would be eliminated by the beginning of the 1991 92 school year. According to Mr. Bryson, the West Virginia Department of Education cited several schools in the county that still had segregated special education classrooms in violation of the court order.

The Monongalia County school system was ordered to submit written plans for correcting the violations indicated in the report. Mr. Bryson told the forum that such assurances would not be enough, in light of the county's record of failing to comply with the 1991 court order and the other corrective actions ordered by state and federal authorities.[48] A pattern of consistently ignoring special education students exists in Monongalia County, he charged.[49]      

Several additional concerns were raised about the county s schools. State law requires local boards of education to do criminal background checks on all candidates for school employment before hiring; however, the Monongalia County school system has not always done this for employees who work with special education students, applying, in effect, a lower employment standard for personnel who serve disabled students.[50] In 1998, a special education aide was convicted of felony sexual abuse of a special education student; documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that the school system had never requested a criminal background check on the man. Special education students are a particularly vulnerable group, Mr. Bryson noted, because many cannot communicate well and thus cannot easily report abuse.[51]

County officials have not been forthcoming with documents they are required to make public. Recipients of federal funds under the IDEA are required to have a written plan for making positive efforts to employ qualified individuals with disabilities, but attorney Reed Martin said the Monongalia school system has refused repeated requests to provide a copy of that plan, and the state Department of Education also refuses to show such a plan.[52] Similarly, parents have the right to see a copy of a local school district s plan for use of IDEA funds, but the Monongalia school board has refused to make that plan available.[53]

Climate of Hostility and Insensitivity to Students with Disabilities and Their Parents[54]

Reed Martin charged that school districts around the state show insensitivity and hostility to parents who advocate on behalf of their disabled children:

When a parent approaches a school district here and asks about something, they are not responded to, they are attacked. I have not seen anywhere in the country such a hostile environment that is apparently intentional. . . . The Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504, specifically in the statute under ADA [and] the regulations of 504, protect against intimidation, retaliation, interference, threats, and coercion, and particularly when you are engaged in the protected activity of advocating for a child. Yet that seems to be a standard pattern.[55]

A related problem is that as soon as a student turns 18 and is legally an adult, the school board can and sometimes does refuse to continue dealing with the parent as advocate for the disabled young person, insisting instead that the student is the sole person who can now see records, attend IEP meetings, and so forth.[56]

As further evidence of the Monongalia County school board s disregard for people with disabilities, Mr. Martin pointed out that key school board offices are located on upper floors inaccessible to wheelchairs, posing a deterrent not only to potential employees with disabilities but also to disabled parents who may need to visit the offices:

They moved to that inaccessible building after the ADA was in effect and after Section 504 was in effect, [which] said if you are a recipient of federal financial assistance you may not do that. . . . The Section 504 coordinator and the ADA coordinator, and the director of special education are all housed upstairs in a building that is inaccessible to people with mobility impairment. . . . What an incredible symbol of we don't care, we just really don't care.[57]

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education oversees enforcement of ADA and Section 504 in education matters. Mr. Martin said that when a parent brings a complaint about a school district to OCR Region III, which covers West Virginia, in his view the response has been very, very disappointing :

Region III OCR will accept an oral, verbal representation by a school person: Okay, we'll never do that again, we'll start doing the right thing. Even though they required the parent complainant to furnish written kinds of information, on that oral representation they'll say, okay, since they have promised to do it, that closes the case, but of course, let us know if they don't do it. Then when you come back and say, Well, they're not doing it, the Office of Civil Rights will say, Well, that is a new issue, open a new case. [58]

If a violation continues, OCR can go to court to withhold federal financial assistance, but Mr. Martin believes that Region III has not done that in any recent case and in fact has not really tried to enforce Section 504.[59] (A response to this section from Wendella Fox, director, Philadelphia Office, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, is provided in appendix 4.)

Barriers for Hearing-Impaired Students

Two points were made: deaf children may suffer from isolation in mainstream classrooms, and sign language interpreters working in classrooms often lack the necessary proficiency.

Isolation of mainstreaming.[60] Federal special education law was first designed in the 1970s to place disabled children in regular classrooms, which were thought to provide the least restrictive environment, but in 1997 the law was changed to recognize the special needs of the hearing impaired, for whom a specialized instructional setting may be less restrictive.[61] Nonetheless, the vast majority of deaf students in West Virginia are still educated in regular public school classrooms with sign language interpreters, and several panelists spoke about the isolating effects of this mainstreaming.[62] Ruby Losh, a disability rights advocate, noted that there is no direct communication between the mainstream teacher and a deaf student:

There is only communication between the interpreter and the student. The teacher is talking to the student and there is a classroom interpreter, but the teacher may not know what is going on between the interpreter and the student. . . . So it is an inclusion program, [but] it is isolating the deaf student in a lot of ways.[63]

By contrast, at the state school for the deaf located in Romney, all teachers and staff know sign language well; students can communicate freely with everyone around them, and the instruction is accessible. However, panelists suggested that the state does not want to publicize the services offered at Romney and that there are barriers to expanding the school.

Interpreters proficiency.[64] Ms. Losh noted that West Virginia does not require certification of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters who work in the public schools,[65] and she said schools often hire uncertified, poorly qualified interpreters because they are cheaper than those fully qualified.[66] Only three of the 10 interpreters in the Monongalia County schools are certified.[67]

There are not enough qualified interpreters in West Virginia to serve the state's approximately 2,000 hearing-impaired children in mainstream classrooms.[68] Only one institution, Fairmont State College, trains ASL interpreters. According to Dolly Ford and Teresa McGonigle, sign language interpreters at the Morgantown forum, the two-year program at Fairmont is not sufficient in itself to produce highly qualified interpreters.[69] They said that there is demand among hearing students in elementary-secondary schools to learn ASL as a foreign language, but that the public schools do not offer it.[70] The interpreters at the Morgantown forum called for elementary-secondary schools to offer ASL as a foreign language so that potential interpreters could begin developing proficiency early.

Suggested Strategies and Ongoing Efforts

Panelists suggested stronger efforts in three areas to improve public schools treatment of racial minorities and students with disabilities:

Step Up Efforts to Prevent Harassment and Violence in Schools

Efforts to prevent harassment and violence must include three components: (1) anti-bias training and education for students, beginning at a young age, as well as for teachers and parents; (2) mechanisms to prevent harassment by reporting problems before they escalate; and (3) appropriate responses to incidents when they occur. Although a number of programs underway in the schools contain components that address diversity and tolerance, the Civil Rights Team Project overseen by the Civil Rights Division of the West Virginia Attorney General's Office appears to be the program targeted most specifically at harassment prevention. As such, it should be continued and expanded to other schools in the state.

The Board of Education's Policy 2421 calls for local schools to work with other state and local agencies to design and implement anti-bias programs. Paul Sheridan, coordinator of the West Virginia Hate Crime Task Force, said the task force has been working to develop strategies to support local communities in taking such initiatives, which could include gathering information on existing efforts at the school and county levels, having individuals or groups from the community conduct training in the schools, and constructing more comprehensive programs.[71] Mr. Sheridan said that the regulations create an opening for such efforts but that there is a long way to go. [72]

Undertake Aggressive Recruiting of Minority Professionals to Work in Schools

Although Pat Joe White, assistant superintendent of the Logan County Board of Education, said the Logan County school board is engaged in statewide outreach to recruit more diverse job applicants, other panelists emphasized that much stronger efforts are needed to recruit and hire minorities for professional positions in West Virginia schools. It was also suggested that the hiring practices of the Monongalia County school board be reviewed to see if there is intentional discrimination against minorities.

Increase the Supply and Proficiency of Classroom Sign Language Interpreters

Sign language interpreters who work in the schools should be highly proficient, and this may mean requiring certification of their level of proficiency. A first step suggested by panelists would be to link the process of hiring interpreters, currently done through school boards, to the state board of evaluators that tests and ranks sign language interpreters.