Fewer Suspensions in City Schools After Discipline Changes

The number of New York City public school students suspended from July through December 2015 declined by almost 32 percent, compared to the same period in 2014. The data was reported Thursday as required under City Council legislation.

Most of the decline was in principal suspensions, which are less serious and don't require a student's removal from school. The Department of Education said the largest contributor to that decline was an 81 percent decrease in suspensions for insubordination. It called this decline a direct result of discipline changes that are intended to de-escalate situations, and a practice known as restorative justice that provides alternatives to suspensions.

The city has also hired more social workers and school-based mental health consultants.

“The restorative justice trainings equip educators with critical resources to effectively address and manage disruptive behaviors and teach students independence and accountability that applies in the classroom and beyond," said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. 

The New York Civil Liberties Union called the new numbers a strong indicator that schools are getting better at resolving minor behavioral issues — especially with the drop in suspensions due to insubordination. A racial breakdown will be provided later in the year. But Executive Director Donna Lieberman noted that, historically, this "was the most skewed category of suspension," because black and Hispanic students were far more likely to be charged with insubordination than white students.

Latrell Stone, a leader in the Urban Youth Collaborative, said the city should "eliminate the use of suspensions for 'defying authority' to help ensure no student is negatively impacted by racially biased policies."

Lately, there have been a few reports of students carrying weapons to school. The group Families for Excellent Schools has also pointed to state data suggesting a rise in school crime, which the Department of Education disputes, because the agency relies on police department statistics instead of the state's system.

Crime in schools has dropped 50 percent since 2004, according to the NYPD. Lieberman, of the civil liberties union, said this shows schools can reduce suspensions without an impact on crime. "The sky is not falling in," she said.

However, the drop in suspensions wasn't as big for more serious offenses, such as carrying a weapon or assault. These are known as superintendent suspensions and they require a child's removal from school. And looking at a longer time period — from July through March 15th of this year —  the Department of Education said the total number of student suspensions dropped by 22.5 percent compared to the same period in 2014-15. Yet, there was just a 2 percent decline in out-of-school suspensions.  Lieberman said this raised questions.

For the first time, the council's Student Safety Act also required the city to report on the number of students who were transported from schools by Emergency Medical Services. Groups including Advocates for Children and Legal Services N.Y.C. have criticized the schools for relying on E.M.S. too heavily when dealing with disruptive students, and the city settled a lawsuit over the practice.

Between July and the end of December, a total of 4,305 students were transported by E.M.S, 601 of whom were categorized as having emotional and psychological conditions. There is no comparable breakdown of the data from the previous school year but the overall decline in ambulance calls was less than 1 percent.

Attorney Nelson Mar, of Legal Services, called that "disheartening." He said the city already gave the schools guidelines for de-escalating situations that can lead to unnecessary 911 calls but he also said, "this is going to take some time," because the city has 1,800 schools.