When is suspending students discrimination? Education Department renews an old fight

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The U.S. Department of Education recently announced it was investigating Fayetteville Public Schools in Arkansas, much to the district's surprise.

The reason, according to a department press release: Teachers there "were directed to take students' racial identities into account when issuing discipline as part of an effort to bring about 'restorative justice' to address 'the disproportionality of discipline on students of color.'"

Superintendent John Mulford says the district received notice of the investigation roughly two hours before the department publicly named Fayetteville as a target in its national release.

"We're a little shocked at this point and completely in the dark as to what this is even about," Mulford says.

Read more on the original article : https://www.npr.org/2026/08/25/nx-s1-5936474/discrimination-school-discipline-suspension-race-education-department-civil-rights