MANHATTAN — The number of suspensions at the city’s schools dropped by more than 15 percent last year compared to the year before, according to data released Monday from the Department of Education.
The number of suspensions fell from roughly 44,600 in the 2014 school year to about 37,600 last year. Over the past 5 years, the number of suspensions decreased by nearly 46 percent, and crime at schools dropped by about 35 percent, DOE officials said.
The education department credits the work that schools are doing to improve their climate. Training on restorative practices, de-escalation, therapeutic crisis interventions and collaborative problem solving has helped, officials said.
The DOE also touted its hiring of 250 new guidance counselors over the last two years, adding 130 guidance counselors and social workers through the Single Shepherd program (which pairs every middle and high school student grades 6–12 in the South Bronx’s District 7 and Ocean Hill/Brownsville’s District 23 with a dedicated school counselor or social worker) and 100 mental health consultants this year.
“We’re encouraged by the steady decrease in suspensions along with crime, summonses and arrests, and continue to expand trainings and build stronger community ties to ensure all students feel safe and are ready to learn,” Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said in a statement. “We’re dedicated to continuing this essential work.”
Last year, the city’s schools were the safest on record, police officials said.
The de Blasio administration has made a big push to reform school discipline policies, investing $47 million in supports for teachers to reform school climate.
The number of teacher “removals” of students from classrooms — which is considered less punitive than a suspension — were up slightly, by 3 percent — to 11,943 in 2015-2016 from 11,607 in 2011-2012, according to DOE data.
Suspensions still disproportionately affect students of color and students with disabilities, officials acknowledged. But they also noted that suspensions given to black students decreased by 19 percent last year and, suspensions given to Hispanic students decreased by 13 percent.
The number of students who received a disciplinary infraction called insubordination — the so-called “B21” infraction — declined from about 6,000 to 1,530 last year, representing a 75 percent decrease from the year before, the data found. Critics have cited insubordination as historically a major factor of racial disparities in suspensions, adding that they are not given to white students as frequently.
“Success should not be measured by the number of suspensions, but by the number of schools with an improved school climate,” Michael Mulgrew, Head of United Federation of Teachers, said in a statement.
“Success is when every child who is struggling gets the intervention they need when they need it, and in a way so that the rest of the students in his or her class don’t suffer by having their education interrupted.”
