Suspensions up in schools
Suspensions in city schools rose in the most recent school year that ended in June, with black and Hispanic kids taking the brunt of the controversial punishments.
Overall, the city’s public schools saw an increase of 4.1% in the number of suspensions in the 2017-18 school year, compared to the 2016-17 school year, Department of Education data published Wednesday shows.
Most of the increase was due to a sharp rise in suspensions for the first half of the 2017-18 year, when a wave of disruptive acts and crimes shook the city schools, including the stabbing death of Bronx student Matthew McCree in September 2017 — the first killing of a student in a city school in more than two decades.
City school officials couldn’t explain what accounted for the spike in suspensions and crimes in the first half of the year, but officials said that police actions and suspensions fell in the second half of the year.
Overall, the 2017-18 school year marked the first rise in school suspensions since Mayor de Blasio took office and enacted school discipline reforms aimed at reducing them.
The changes were made in a push to decrease the number of suspensions in the city schools and keep kids in classes longer, changes favored by some experts.
And even with the recent increase, overall suspensions are down about 32% since the 2013-14 school year, largely due to regulations enacted by de Blasio that made it harder for educators and administrators to suspend students, particularly in the lower grades.
Education Department Deputy Chancellor LaShawn Robinson said the city remains focused on providing schools with the resources needed to be proactive in preventing and managing conflict, such as training for teachers and administrators in restorative justice practices.
“We have made significant progress and acknowledge there is much work to do, and we are reviewing our systems and procedures to ensure we are best supporting students,” Robinson said.
Citywide, public school students were suspended, expelled or removed from class 49,293 times in the 2017-18 school year, up from 46,571 suspensions, expulsions and removals in the 2016-17 school year.
Removals occur when students are transferred to another class for disciplinary reasons.