WAPS’ racial disparity in discipline persists (5/5/2021)
Black students at Winona Area Public Schools (WAPS) were suspended seven times more often than their white peers last school year. As the district nears the end of a three-year agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) to reduce the disparity in discipline between students of color and white students, that disparity remains largely unchanged. Later this year, WAPS will submit a final report to the MDHR regarding suspension rates. The district is one of many that entered agreements with the department. “We all agree that kids can’t learn if they’re not in the classroom,” former MDHR Commissioner Kevin Lindsey told the Winona Post in 2018.