Every October 31st, the New York City Department of Education is required to release Student Safety Act data for the previous school year, making public the use of suspensions and classroom removals in New York City public schools. The latest numbers show that the use of suspensions grew 4.1% and classroom removals grew 11.4% during the 2017-2018 school year compared to the year before.
During the 2017-2018 school year there were 11,009 incidents in schools reported by the NYPD through the Student Safety Act, a local law established to bring transparency to the scope of police contact with students in NYC schools. Reported incidents are categorized as “interventions” and refer to arrests, summonses, child in crisis incidents, juvenile reports, PINS / warrants, and mitigated incidents.
As the Assembly considers best practices to meet student’s health and mental health needs, it is vital that you ensure there is continued funding to help school districts improve school climate and safety. This week marks the 9th annual week of action against school pushout, a national effort carried out by the Dignity in Schools Campaign, a coalition of organizations dedicated to ending the school-to-prison pipeline.
