Georgia’s public schools assign a vastly disproportionate number of black students to “psychoeducational” programs, segregating them not just by disability but also by race, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution finds.
In the programs, teachers restrained children with dog leashes; psychologists performed behavioral experiments on troubled students; and chronically disruptive students spent time in solitary confinement, locked in rooms with bars over the windows, the newspaper reported. The paper found that 54 percent of students in the programs are African-American, compared with black enrollment of 37 percent in all public schools statewide.
State education officials deny race plays a role in student assignment. Rather, they contend, individual needs determine where students receive services.
