Bad things can happen when racial disparities are taken as de facto proof of systemic racism. If the Clark County School District doesn’t reject this flawed premise, students may find that out the hard way — again.
The district recently released a report on how often school police used force during the last school year. The attention-grabbing takeaway involved the race. Around 85 percent of those whom police pepper sprayed or used a taser on were Black.
Assemblywoman Cecelia González sponsored the bill mandating the release of this information. She insinuated that this racial disparity means school district police are doing something wrong.
“There needs to be meaningful and deep conversations about how to approach these situations differently,” Ms. González said. “We know from talking to the Black community and our youth just in general — and our youth of color — that they don’t feel safe when it comes to law enforcement on their campuses.”
This attitude has permeated the district for well over a decade. In 2013, the Superintendent’s Education Opportunities Advisory Council released a report on the overrepresentation of Black students among those suspended and expelled. Dwight Jones was superintendent at the time. The council included a host of education insiders and even Susie Lee, before she won a seat in Congress. The group said the top two root causes of this disparity were “bias” and a “lack of administrative awareness of disproportionality.” District officials then worked — not to change individual student behavior — but to reduce suspensions and expulsions. As they reduced discipline, in-school violence soared. That result wasn’t surprising to anyone with a lick of common sense, which apparently didn’t include many people in the education establishment.
When Jesus Jara came in as superintendent, he too was worried about these racial disparities. He announced the elimination of school deans, who handled school discipline. He initially backtracked, but the district eventually did eliminate the position. Jara continued to pressure school leaders not to use punitive disciplinary measures. That move, frequently dressed up as restorative justice, was an effort to reduce racial disparities in discipline.
Once again, not punishing misbehavior led to increasingly violent schools. Amid high-profile incidents of violence, Mr. Jara decided it was time to punish students.
The mistake district officials repeatedly made was measuring group outcomes instead of holding individuals responsible for their behavior. When judging individuals based on individual behavior, disparities in an unrelated variable, like race, aren’t proof of discrimination.
Look at the difference that approach would make here. Last year, school police used pepper spray or a taser in 11 instances involving 21 people. Eighteen of them were Black. That is a vanishingly small number in a district with an enrollment of more than 290,000 students last year. In the 2024-25 school year, the district had around 48,000 African-American students. This report is evidence of how infrequently police officers use force against any racial group, not a warning sign of systemic racism.
Dig further. Of those 21 people, eight were between 18 and 35. One was 35 years or older. That suggests some of those involved in those incidents were adults, not students.
Since she’s sullying district police, Ms. González should explain to the public how she’d resolve an on-campus fight, especially one involving an adult. Should a police officer not intervene if a Black adult is attacking a student?
The presence of school police doesn’t cause bad behavior. The presence of school police prevents fights and stops violence from escalating. When police aren’t around to stop fights, students can die. Remember the tragedy of former Rancho High School student Jonathan Lewis Jr. He was beaten to death in 2023 near his school.
The primary responsibility for on-campus violence rests with the individuals committing the violence — regardless of the skin color of those in similar situations. To view individuals primarily as group members, not human beings with agency for their own choices is to reject Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.
