Fewer NYC students have been suspended this year, reports say

As New York City required all students to return to school buildings in September for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic hit, many teachers reported upticks in student behavior and mental health issues.

But so far, that has not led to increased suspensions, according to city data released this week.

From July through December 2021, city schools issued nearly 8,400 suspensions, about 16% fewer than the same period in 2019 before the pandemic hit.

During the first half of this school year, principal suspensions — which last five days or fewer — decreased nearly 16%. Superintendent suspensions, which cover more serious incidents, dropped more than 19%. Those can stretch up to an entire school year, but have been limited to 20 days in most cases since 2019. (Though racial breakdowns are not included in mid-year figures, previous data show Black students and those with disabilities are generally more likely to be suspended.)

Over the past decade, suspensions in city schools have fallen about 55%, and this year’s reduction may reflect the continuation of a long-term trend. (Last school year, most students opted to learn virtually full time, and suspensions plummeted roughly 99%.)

Still, some experts expected this year’s suspension numbers to meet or exceed pre-pandemic levels, as many students are reeling from acute academic and mental health challenges, which may cause them to act out.

There is likely no single explanation for this year’s drop in suspensions, but there are several possibilities. Educators may have been more reluctant to remove students from classrooms after nearly two years of learning disruptions, fearing that removing them from class would set them back even further. Schools may have also relied more on counseling or other support, as district leaders encouraged schools to pay closer attention to student wellbeing, and schools had more resources at their disposal.

Another possibility: Fewer students were in classrooms, limiting opportunities for suspensions. Not only is K-12 enrollment down by roughly 9% since the pandemic hit, but nearly 150,000 students have tested positive for COVID this school year, forcing them to quarantine at home. Chronic absenteeism is also on the rise, with about 37% of students on pace to miss at least 10% of school days this year, city officials said. In recent years, chronic absenteeism rates have been closer to 25%.

Constance Linsday, a University of North Carolina researcher who has studied school discipline policies, said many of these factors are likely playing a role. She added that the students who were most likely to be infected by COVID or who are chronically absent might also be more likely to be suspended, which would push suspension numbers down. Teacher responses might be different as well, she suggested.

“There has been a lot of attention over the past two years to restorative justice and the school-to-prison pipeline,” she said, in part stoked by racial justice protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. “I think that had a profound impact on a lot of people.”

Robert Effinger, a teacher at the Bronx High School of Business, said disruptive incidents were more prevalent at his school at the beginning of the year as students reacclimated to the classroom. Many were often frustrated by higher academic standards, including the need to take Regents exams, which are typically required for graduation but were paused during the pandemic.

“I had to reframe things and bring it way down to basics,” he said. That approach has paid off: “It was a complete 180 on all my classroom management issues.”