New York City schools are grappling with a spike in discipline problems among children, evidence that the disruptions caused by the pandemic are having lingering effects, educators and experts say, according to an article in The New York Times.
Most of the misconduct involves lower-level disturbances that educators and advocates say show that many students are still having a hard time emotionally after the stress of the pandemic.
Despite a handful of high-profile episodes — at least two students were slashed at Port Richmond High School in Staten Island recently, for example — student arrests account for a small percentage of discipline incidents, according to the Police Department.
Luis A. Rodriguez, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at New York University, says the increase is not necessarily surprising, given the isolation and stress students and their families experienced during the pandemic.
“Schools have had to reckon with the impact Covid has had on socializing,” he says.
Last school year, there were 14,048 school safety incidents, according to Police Department data. In the 2018-2019 school year, there were 11,504.
In recent years, both the police and the Education Department have sought to reduce how often officers respond to low-level offenses like disorderly conduct. Police Department data shows that when uniformed officers and school safety agents do respond, they are now more likely to send students back to their schools for discipline instead of arresting them or issuing a summons.
Still, the number of times students were suspended or removed from class rose last year, to 36,992 from 31,738 the year before, though it remains below pre-pandemic levels.
“Most discipline incidences are not serious,” says Madeline Borrelli, a special-education teacher and member of Teachers Unite, an organization focused on ending “the school-to-prison pipeline.”
She said schools with fewer resources, where teachers may be overwhelmed, may be relying on suspensions or calling in school safety agents “to respond to normal child behavior.”
Rohini Singh, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children of New York, which has called for school safety reforms, said law enforcement still has an “outsize role” in school discipline.
And racial disparities remain. Black pupils make up a quarter of the city’s public school population, but 40 percent of suspensions or classroom removals. Black students were involved in more than half of incidents in which the police intervened.
Serious incidents at schools — such as assault and burglary — have stayed relatively low compared to the late 2010s, according to the mayor’s office.
David C. Bloomfield, a professor of education leadership at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, said gang activity appeared to be up, and that “some of that has to do with adolescent alienation we are seeing more generally.”
The rise in disciplinary problems in schools has been unsettling for students and parents.
In December, a student was stabbed at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, prompting a lockdown. One freshman stayed in the piano room for several hours. He wants to see the use of metal detectors to increase safety. His father is considering home-schooling his son.
But Sumarha Tariq, who attended the High School of Fashion Industries, is a student who may have benefited from efforts to reduce police involvement in disciplinary issues.
In 2022, after she was found with pepper spray in her backpack, which is illegal for minors, a safety agent referred her case back to the school.
A school counselor issued a warning, but not a suspension, after Ms. Tariq wrote a statement explaining that she carried the spray because she had faced harassment on her commute. She made it through the rest of high school without problems, graduated and is now a freshman at Yale University.
It was, Ms. Tariq said, “the best scenario.”
The New York Times
