Administrators Leveraging School Counseling Supports to Address Disparities in School Discipline

Abstract

Across the nation, various movements have persistently called for the removal of punitive practices in school; this includes removing law enforcement officers (LEOs) and school resource officers (SROs) and prioritizing funding toward student support services. This chapter brings attention to the role of school administrators and how they can leverage and support school counselors to address disparities in school discipline that impact racially minoritized youth. The authors draw on the theory of racialized organizations to demonstrate how schools are a racialized space, as individual agency is constrained or enabled by their social position within the organization, and how schools further reproduce inequity through their unequal distribution of resources. This chapter offers some practical approaches to reveal how school administrators can leverage school counselors to dismantle disparities in school discipline and prioritize practices of care.