Recognizing race: unexplored issues in Kirkwood

It’s 3:30 p.m. Across Kirkwood, KSD elementary schoolers go home, have their afternoon snack and run outside to play with their neighbors. The kids who live on Electric St. in Meacham Park ride the bus home from Robinson and wait for their friends across the street to get home from North Glendale. Unlike other neighborhoods within KSD, Meacham Park students are split up between three different e...

Zero percent (0/35). This is the percentage of Black kindergarteners in the Kirkwood School District (KSD) who met the reading benchmark in winter 2020. On the other hand, 36.5% of white kindergarteners met or exceeded the reading benchmark.  This large gap was not just a trend in kindergarten literacy scores — but also seen in grades 1-8. Take for example the third grade math benchmark scores:...

Recently, KSD has decided to update their equity policy so that it incorporates race for the first time. The Kirkwood School District (KSD) has been practicing an equity policy for over 30 years. In light of recent events and students wanting to be heard, Individuals in KSD believe the district equity policy is not up to date with the rest of society and not inclusive to all people, so KSD is revis...

Discipline disparity is a term which refers to the trend of disproportionate disciplinary actions taken by a school against certain students due to their race or another demographic. This behavior may seem nonexistent in KSD and surrounding districts, but recent data suggests that a disproportionate amount of disciplinary action was taken against Black students when compared to their white classmat...