Issue

When students are suspended or arrested in school their chances of being held back, dropping out or entering the juvenile justice system increase.  All students deserve to be in safe, supportive and inclusive school environments. New York City is working to end overly punitive school discipline policies, reduce racial disparities, and introduce methods that are fairer and more effective.

Solutions

In February 2015, in an effort to address the high rates of suspensions and arrests in schools, the City launched the Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline. This one-year task force was charged with developing policy recommendations to enhance the well-being and safety of students and staff in the City’s public schools, while minimizing the use of suspensions, arrests and other punitive approaches.  

To date, the School Climate Team has accomplished the following:

• The City has placed School Climate Managers in each of the Borough Field Support Centers to examine issues faced by vulnerable youth, and to design and promote innovative strategies to address them. Climate Managers offer on-the-ground support for school staff-particularly in high-need schools.
• The Department of Education (DOE) has hired an additional 63 guidance counselors and 50 substance use disorder experts to advance the City’s school climate efforts.
• NYPD has developed protocols to assess the need for permanent metal detectors at specific schools and will develop an evaluation tool to ensure scanning is done in the most respectful and efficient manner possible.
• Working with the Leadership Team, the NYPD and DOE developed and piloted a Warning Card Program. The program allows Police Officers and School Safety Agents to issue warning cards for certain low-level offenses in lieu of a criminal court summons. After a Warning Card is issued to a student, a school official will contact the student’s parents or guardian, and the incident will be handled administratively by the school.
• NYPD is minimizing the use of handcuffing, particularly for children under 12 years-old, and will report all instances of handcuffing to the public starting in January of 2016.

Featured News and Press:

Mayor de Blasio, Commissioner O’Neill and Chancellor Fariña Announce Safest School Year on Record (August 1, 2017)

Mayor de Blasio announces safest year on record for New York City public schools (August 1, 2017)

Mayor de Blasio Announces Expansion of Programs to Keep Students in School and Improve Overall School Safety (February 27, 2017)

De Blasio Administration Announces New School Climate Initiatives to Make NYC Schools Safer, Fairer and More Transparent (July 21, 2016)
The reforms add more than $47 million annually to support school climate initiatives and mental health services – conducted in partnership with ThriveNYC – and set clear protocols for the removal or addition of scanners in schools while also expanding NYPD school-based data that is reported publicly.