Recently the Department of Justice conducted an investigation of Wichita Public Schools, the result of which concluded that minority students and those with special needs faced discrimination in how they were punished for misbehavior. In July, Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld sent out an email stating that the previous year the DOJ launched an investigation on WPS.

“A year ago, when I began my tenure as superintendent, I was informed about an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that began in the spring of 2022. It centered on the use of seclusion and restraint practices, racial disparities in administration of school discipline, and racial disparities in law enforcement referrals,” Bielefeld’s statement read.

The district has yet to identify what specifically led the DOJ to initiate the investigation. WPS has agreed to review its disciplinary practices as part of their settlement agreement with the DOJ.

“You know, I’m not 100% sure when it started. I do know that the incident was a case of a student that was emotionally out of control,” Wichita Board of Education President Stan Reeser said. “The person that ended up dealing with that situation and the staff member that dealt with that situation felt like he was in danger for himself and for other students, and then basically then- obviously when something like that happens, parents are notified. I don’t think the parent felt like we treated it exactly the way we should have.”

Even with all this uncertainty the district has stated that they intend for the new Student Code of Conduct to be in place at the start of next semester.

Many teachers and staff we talked to feel there’s been a lack of information about the investigation.

“I work as a Spanish interpreter for the district specifically for the Special Education Department,” Hazel Martinez said. “I am not a teacher, so I don’t think I ever received an email. But if that’s the case, I’m a little bit surprised that teachers were not informed of this earlier.”

This caused confusion and uncertainty as to what type of actions led to the investigation and disciplinary actions teachers could take without somehow violating a new policy that has not yet been published.

Last year students at Southeast were written up for tier 1 violations/minor violations, the lack of detail in the Student Code of Conduct left room for ambiguity as to what behavior could result in an office referral.

“This year we’re supposed to give kids more warnings some of those Tier 1 violations…people were getting written up for that. last year we had kids getting written up for not bringing their backpack or their pencil,” English teacher and United Teachers of Wichita building representative Jacob Thimesch said. “I can’t like just write them up because my syllabus says no cell phones, I can’t just write a kid up I have to give them a warning, I have to give them a chance to correct them”

The BOE held a meeting on Sept. 25 going over the draft of the new Student Code of Conduct where parents were invited to share their opinions. Although this issue affects all of WPS, most parents we talked to weren’t even aware of the investigation, possibly contributing to the low number of parents at the meeting.

“I think it’s extremely unfortunate, being as it came from the federal Department of Justice, that this wasn’t a bigger news story throughout the country, state, our county, directly affecting our students, more importantly, our teachers, who are already short staffed,” said Bernadette Walter, whose child attends Levy Special Education Center. “And how are we going to not only keep the teachers but get more in this field when their hands are tied.”

Staff we spoke to hope that these changes to the Student Code of Conduct will provide some clarity and benefit students, leading to a safer learning environment.

“I think this is going to force us to kind of come into the 21st century a little bit more,” Thimesch said. “Not so much I give you consequences as much as your decisions caused this to happen, and now we’re going to talk about it, and this is what’s going to happen because of it but I’m not giving it to you, I’m not punishing you, you did this, and this happens. That’s what I hope.”