When you send your child off to school, the last thing you want to have to worry about is the school being racist. However, it is a serious and important concern that every parent should have. The reality is that some schools are better than others with racism. The good news is that you can find out how well your child’s school handles racism. It’s not nearly as hard as it sounds, and this guide will tell you exactly how to find out where your child’s school stands with racism.

First Step: Find Your School

There is a government website with all of the reports you need. Go to it and look up your child’s school and district. These reports are updated every few years and give information on racial disparities, such as which race gets suspended the most, who gets referred to the police, who gets arrested, and who is in the advanced courses with the highest quality teachers. Since you want equal treatment for your child, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the data found online.

Second Step: Get Your School’s Profile

The website makes it fairly easy to see the racial disparities all on one page. Once you find your child’s school, click on it and pull up the profile. This profile will give you invaluable information on the topics talked about above.

Third Step: Analyze it All

Sometimes, you may be pleasantly surprised with how well your child’s school is handling racism. On the other hand, you may be disappointed in what you find. If that is true, you need to analyze the data. Make sure you have it all written down so that you can see whether or not minority groups are punished and more likely to be referred to police than white students. If you find that they are, it’s time to do something about it.

Make a Difference

Racism in a school is not only affecting your child but rather every child in that school. When children grow up in a healthy, racially-diverse school, they are less likely to be prejudice. Having different races within schools is extremely important, but even more important is how those races are treated.

No one wants their child to be treated differently because of the color of their skin. When you find that your child’s school is racist, it’s time to make a difference. Start with the school district and present the data that you have collected yourself. If the school district is willing to listen and implement changes to combat racism, you have made a difference. However, you may experience opposition for a while. If that is true, you can rally together with other local people in the community so that the district will realize and recognize how important of an issue this is. All children deserve to be treated ethically and fairly, and if they are at a racist school, that’s not possible. Stopping racism in schools is the first step in making sure it no longer exists.