South Jersey student talks about her yearlong suspension as others adjust to school elsewhere: ‘It was a hard lesson’

Kingsway Regional High School senior Sania Anderson never thought she would miss school — until she was banned for more than a year after jumping into a fight with a group of other girls.

What started as an eight-day suspension in March 2023 lasted until the start of the 2024-25 school year — ending only after her mother won a costly legal battle with the South Jersey school system to get her enrolled for her senior year.

Even after that decision, Anderson spent the summer on pins and needles, afraid a last-minute glitch could keep her out of school longer. She was nervous about returning after spending months studying alone.

“It’s kind of hard to feel welcome,” Anderson, 17, said. “It was a feeling that I had — they didn’t want me here.”

» READ MORE: A South Jersey high school student was kicked out for fighting. Her mother has spent the year trying to overturn the suspension.

Her mother, Naimah Howard, has contended that the severity of her daughter’s punishment was because she — and the other four students who were involved in the fight — are Black. She said disproportionate discipline has been meted out regarding the behavior of some students of color compared with the same actions committed by their white peers.

The case is now the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. Howard and the other parents filed complaints alleging disparate treatment and discipline of Black and special education students by the district.

The Department of Education acknowledged that it is investigating but declined to comment. School officials have declined to comment, citing student privacy rights.

According to the New Jersey Department of Education, Black students constitute only 15.5% of the state’s student population, but account for 29.8% of referrals from schools to law enforcement and 28.9% of arrests in schools. Black students at Kingsway were suspended at a rate 3.3 times higher than white students in 2022-23, according to the report. About 11.2% of Kingsway’s 2,765 students are Black.

While the case played out, Anderson was home-schooled for the remainder of the 2022-23 school year. She missed her entire junior year, the deposit deadline for the senior trip, and a chance to take the PSAT. She struggled to keep up with algebra with only two hours a week of in-person instruction.

During the suspension, Anderson missed not only classes, but also school dances, extracurricular activities, homecoming, and football games. When her friends invited her to attend school functions, she had to decline because she was barred from school grounds.

“It made me feel really bad and embarrassed,” Anderson said. “It was up and down. Sometimes it was harder than other times.”

The 2023 fight broke out between a group of girls, with the brother of one of the girls intervening. Anderson punched a student on the ground several times, and several students and staff members were injured attempting to break up the fight, according to the district. All five participants were charged with simple assault.

Anderson and the four other students initially were suspended for eight days. Then the district put them on long-term suspension and demanded that the students undergo a risk assessment and a psychological evaluation.

After Howard refused, arguing that such tests could result in unfairly classifying her daughter as having special needs, the case dragged on for months. The other students eventually moved out of the district.

“I was starting to get discouraged,” Anderson said. “I wanted to move.”

Acting state Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer intervened in June, ruling that Anderson must be allowed back immediately in the Woolwich Township school. His decision came on the day classes ended for the 2023-24 school year.

» READ MORE: The South Jersey student suspended for a year must be allowed back in school, state official rules

Howard said the suspension took a toll on her daughter. Anderson has been undergoing therapy to cope, she said.

“She’s a changed kid in a lot of ways,” said Howard, an educator in Philadelphia. “It was a traumatic event.”

Howard and the parents of the four other suspended students have called for an investigation into Kingsway’s disciplinary procedures. While the other parents agreed to have their children undergo a psychological evaluation, they refused additional assessments.

“We have a common ground, that this was wrong how it was handled,” Howard said. “Ultimately, we have to be the No. 1 advocate for our children.”

Cheree Edney said her daughter, Shariya Houston, 14, a freshman, was attacked in the cafeteria. Her twin brother, Deron, intervened to protect her. Both were handcuffed and placed in a police car, Edney said.

A mandatory evaluation by the school found that both students were “a threat to themselves and others,” Edney said. Both have individual education plans, she said.

But an evaluation by an independent contractor cleared both of her children to return to school, Edney said. Still, the district refused to readmit them, and suggested placing them in an alternative school, Edney said.

The siblings were home-schooled for the remainder of that year, as well as their sophomore year, Edney said. They were never given hearings required by law with the school board to tell their sides, she said.

“They were trying to find a reason to write my kids off and be done with this situation,” Edney said. “I feel like they were treated extremely unfairly.”

Edney said she moved to Delaware and enrolled her children in school there. Her daughter has not adjusted well and suffers from anxiety and weight loss, she said.

Tahesia Gardner said she moved to Penns Grove in Salem County last year to enroll her daughter, Raniyah, and niece, Malliyah,after Kingsway refused to lift the long-term suspension.

Gardner said she refused to let the girls undergo a second child study team evaluation sought by Kingsway. Both were cleared in an initial assessment by Apple Consulting, the district’s vendor, she said. She believes further evaluation was sought because “they’re Black females.”

“Prior to the fight, they’ve never been in any kind of trouble,” Gardner said.

Both girls are athletes and missed out on playing basketball and running winter and spring track, Gardner said. But both are seniors now and are “doing exceptionally well,” she said.

Gardner said she wants Kingsway to address its disciplinary procedures. She believes the district could have better defused the tension among the girls that began brewing days before the fight.

“I just want it to be fair and equal, all the way across the board,” Gardner said.

Anderson said she has slowly adjusted to in-person school life. She attended the homecoming dance and sat for senior portraits. She has only three classes and leaves early for work-study. Her priority is getting ready for college.

“I want to graduate and get out,” Anderson said. “It was a big relief that the case is over. It’s motivation to do better so I can prove to everyone who tried to label me something I’m not.”

Anderson said she regrets her involvement in the fight. She said she limits her peer group so she stays out of trouble and avoids spending time in the cafeteria.

“I learned my lesson,” she said. “It was a hard lesson.”