By Ryan Quinn Staff, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Public schools in West Virginia have suspended Black students at twice the rate of white students over the past five years, underscoring a disparity highlighted in 2015.
State education officials earlier this month pledged to partner with minority leaders, study the problem and review statewide discipline policies.
“We’re going to make sure that we’re providing for opportunities for mentoring processes in there, restorative practices in there, structures in there that our schools and districts can use,” said state Education Department official Drew McClanahan.
But the Rev. Matthew Watts, a long-time community activist on Charleston’s West Side, is skeptical. He has spoken with state Board of Education officials, school superintendents and lawmakers since a 2015 study cited the disparity in West Virginia and throughout the South…
