Activists call on Pittsburgh Public Schools to stop issuing citations against students, cut back on suspensions

A rally Monday outside the Pittsburgh Public Schools administration building in Oakland highlighted concerns about students being pushed out of schools because of summary citations and suspensions.

Spearheaded by 412 Justice, an organization focused on economic, environmental and educational justice, the rally brought attention to what organizers described as school police officers “issuing summary citations to our students at an alarming rate.”

They called on the school district to “eliminate policies, practices and funding that contribute to the surveillance, militarization and criminalization of students and schools” and to nix policies that allow law enforcement to place handcuffs or other restraints on students under age 10.

412 Justice also called for a moratorium on school police officers issuing summary citations to students.

According to data provided by 412 Justice, the rate of summary citations was 12 times higher for Black students than white students in the 2021-2022 academic year, a disparity that has tripled since the 2017-2018 school year.

The organization cited statistics showing that Black girls are more than 24 times more likely to get a summary citation at school than white girls, and the rate of summary citations is almost 11 times higher for Black boys compared to their white counterparts.

The rate of summary citations was nearly double for students with disabilities compared to students without disabilities, according to 412 Justice.

It was not clear how many summary citations were issued to students overall.

“We’re here to say enough is enough,” 412 Justice Executive Director Angel Gober said. “At some point, we have to change the mindset of individuals who work with children on a daily basis. The first step shouldn’t be to suspend or issue citations. The first step should have interventions and assessments of needs to find out how we can further support students.”

According to Pittsburgh Public Schools data, the district saw a 13.3% suspension rate in the 2022-2023 school year, up from 12.1% the prior year. Black students saw a 19.3% suspension rate during the last academic year, compared to a 6.7% suspension rate for white students.

Students missed more than 10,900 days of school due to suspensions, with more than 8,000 of those days impacting Black students.

Students in kindergarten through second grade missed 230 days due to suspension in the last school year, according to PPS data, while students in grades three through five missed more than 1,000 days.

The district reported that 2,624 students were suspended in the 2022-2023 school year, up from 2,457 the prior year.

“Even one day of (missed) instruction can set students back,” Gober said. “Students feel targeted. Students don’t feel they can trust the adults they’re with eight hours a day to come to them with problems.”

In announcing Monday’s rally, 412 Justice urged the district to provide more data about in-school suspensions and interactions between police and students. They also called on the school district to invest less in policing and more in social-emotional learning, trauma-informed curricula, implicit bias training and disability awareness for staff. They suggested more counselors, psychologists and social workers in schools and the creation of a community-led police review board to evaluate instances of police interactions in schools.

A school district spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.