Local Group Holding Talks on Preschool Suspensions – Charleston City Paper

A tri-county advocacy group wants to collaborate with educators and the parents of Black preschool children who have been suspended from schools to create culturally responsive policies that keep children in school to thrive.

Impact Stats recently found South Carolina leads the nation in the number of preschool children, ages 2½ to 5 years old, who were suspended from school one or more times. The pre-pandemic data from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights covers the 2017-18 school year, but was the most recent available.

In South Carolina, Black children are overrepresented in the number of preschool children suspended from school. Of the 438 suspended preschoolers 61% of them were Black students, but they make up 39% of the students enrolled in early childhood classrooms in the state’s public schools, according to the report.

Meetings to Discuss Suspensions

The Beloved Early Education and Care (BEE) Collective will hold a preschoolers’ town hall at 6 p.m. April 12 at Fresh Future Farm in North Charleston. A virtual panel discussion is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. April 18 to discuss preschool suspension solutions. A link to the virtual event will be posted on the BEE Collective’s website.

The meetings coincides with the Charleston Area Justice Ministries’ (CAJM) annual Nehemiah Action Assembly on April 15. CAJM is expected to choose an education-related issue to investigate this year.

Stephanie McFadden, the BEE Collective’s community champion, said the group wants parents of preschoolers to attend the event to share their child’s experience with suspension and “get inspiration knowing groups in Charleston and elsewhere in the country are advocating for them.”

Source: Local group holding talks on preschool suspensions – Charleston City Paper