The Quiet Pushout: How Discipline Disparities Are Failing Minnesota’s BIPOC Students
By Satara Strong-Allen
By: Satara Strong-Allen, EdVoices Cohort Member, Advocate, Activist, Non-Profit Executive Director
There’s a quiet attack on BIPOC youth in Minnesota’s classrooms, and I had a front row seat for eight years. During my time serving as a paraprofessional, I witnessed Black and Brown students and students with IEPs and disabilities experience disciplinary actions at a higher rate than their peers. According to the Minnesota Department of Education’s 2024 report card, Black students represented a whopping 51.9% of students who received one or more suspensions in Saint Paul Public Schools. Often, I dreaded going to work because my first task in the morning was de-escalating arguments between administration or staff and students who were entering the building.
One day, I witnessed the assistant principal attempt to heckle a Black student into saying good morning. When the student ignored and continued to walk past him and get to class, the administrator escalated the situation, following the student down the hall and yelling that she needed to go to the office to “wait for her ride home.” Although I intervened, de-escalated the student and attempted to get her to class, the administrator persisted and she was ultimately dismissed for the day.
These are the stories and experiences of many BIPOC students that I have watched go through the school-to-prison pipeline. According to the ACLU, the school-to-prison pipeline prioritizes incarceration over education by upholding policies and procedures that push students (majority of whom are Black) out of classrooms and into prisons. Behavior interventions such as referrals or write-ups, pieces of paper that document the students “misconduct” create harmful paper trails that can lead to suspensions, expulsions, and can even be used as evidence that police officers and courts can use to criminalize young people. In Minnesota, Black students made up 13.2% of students referred to law enforcement one or more times. Black students also represented 21.2% of students in Minnesota who experienced school-related arrests in 2024.
Wondering how a little piece of paper can do so much damage? One year, I was assigned to a seventh-grade American history class, and the teacher seemed to have an extreme bias towards the students on my caseload— majority of whom were Black. The class occurred during the first period of the day; which means if I were three or four minutes late, I could expect to find three or four of my students standing outside of class, referrals in hand. Regardless of the fact that these students had individual education plans (IEPs), this teacher was allowed to let their implicit biases affect the quality of education they received for months. Despite advocacy efforts from myself and colleagues, the referrals were used to support the continual suspension and eventual removal of these students.
Referrals, suspensions and expulsions cause Black students to miss out on the education they truly deserve. Chronic absenteeism, defined by the US Department of Education as students missing 10% of school, has become more prevalent in the last five years. The Minnesota Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MnMTSS) attendance guidebook states that “over 30% of students are chronically absent, which is slightly higher than the national average.” While some would cite the COVID-19 pandemic as the primary source of absenteeism, we know that referrals lead to suspensions and lost instructional time. Studies show that exclusionary discipline practice worsen behavior issues rather than improve them, and create a cycle of disengagement and negative educational outcomes. Despite the efforts of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights’ settlement agreements, students who are Black, Indigenous and/or have disabilities continue to experience removal from class at a higher rate than their peers.
Every minute that students are out of class is a minute that they lose out on learning and opportunities for growth, so let’s begin to restore, not refer. Restorative practices are a set of strategies and approaches that promote empathy, accountability and center humanity to resolve conflict, build community and improve behavior. According to a brief from the Learning Policy Institute, restorative practices decrease negative student behaviors and reduce referrals, suspensions, and expulsions.
Remember those three or four students from earlier? Imagine that rather than receiving write-ups, they were given chances to resolve the situation, have their voices heard and take accountability. More than likely, they would strengthen their relationship with the teacher and be more engaged in class, producing more opportunities for them to advance academically.
Although districts such as Saint Paul Public Schools have implemented restorative practices in school, we continue to see exacerbated disparities for students of color and students with disabilities. Now is the time for the school districts and the state of Minnesota to invest more heavily in restorative practices, reduce exclusionary discipline and classroom management processes, and strengthen support for districts by creating policies and solutions that address the root causes of absenteeism and low academic outcomes—referrals and other exclusionary discipline practices.
Satara Strong-Allen is a youth advocate and activist based in Saint Paul. Satara has worked in multiple youth-serving institutions; including child protective services, K-12 schools, and the nonprofit sector. She believes that Black women are an indispensable piece of the community and centers principles of humanity, love and cultural knowledge when working with youth. Through her liberatory work as an organizer with Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, she takes pride in her ability to help youth find their voices, step into social justice and self-define their unique roles in making our communities stronger and more vibrant. She is passionate about fighting for the liberation of and providing radical education to Black and disempowered youth; by any means necessary.
Satara currently serves as the Executive Director of Love First Community Engagement, a nonprofit focused on providing culturally competent mentorship for young people in the Twin Cities. In her role, she works closely with her spouse Chauntyll Allen to build a school-to-success pipeline by building the next generation of leaders and providing them with the community support that they need to thrive. In her three years leading the organization, she has taken over 60 youth on HBCU tours; mentored hundreds of Black girls with Glow & Grow and the Glow Up Conference; provided safe spaces and events centered in Black joy for thousands of community members; and provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct financial assistance for housing, food and educational stability to young people ages 16-24.
The preceding blog was authored by a member of the 2025 EdVoices cohort. Through our EdVoices program, EdAllies seeks to elevate diverse voices and foster a candid dialogue about education. While we provide our blog as a platform for EdVoices and other guest contributors, the views and opinions they express are solely their own.