An equity audit conducted at several San Marcos Consolidated ISD schools found that incidents of racism are being underreported, and dropouts are on an upward trend.
The SMCISD Board of Trustees heard a presentation during Monday’s regular meeting from Dr. David J. Wallace and Dr. Tracey A. Benson regarding their equity audit report they conducted. The audit examined four areas of study: attendance, discipline, drop out and racial climate survey. Schools studied were San Marcos High School, Miller Middle School, Mendez Elementary School, Crockett Elementary School and Hernandez Elementary School. Goodnight Middle School only had discipline data available.
“Chronic absences have been on the decline over the past few years, however, not all students have benefited from this trend,” Wallace said. “When it comes to discipline Miller Middle School was an outlier when it comes to the proportion of discipline compared to other enrolled students. In terms of drop out, unfortunately, dropouts are on the upward trend and should be addressed. And then, racial climate survey, there are incidents of racism occurring in the school district and they’re not being reported.”
