Rising discipline problems in schools: Another sign of the pandemic’s toll

New York City schools are experiencing a spike in discipline problems among children, evidence that the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic are having lingering effects, educators and experts say.

Most of the misbehavior involves lower-level disturbances, which teachers and advocates say show many students are still affected emotionally difficult time after the stress of the pandemic.

Despite a handful of high-profile episodes — at least two students were shot at Staten Island’s Port Richmond High School this week, for example — student arrests account for a small percentage of discipline incidents, police said.

Luis A. Rodriguez, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at New York University, said the increase was not necessarily surprising given the isolation and stress students and their families experienced during the pandemic.

“Schools have had to take into account the impact Covid has had on socialising,” he said.

At the High School of Fashion Industries in Manhattan, Rosa Isabel Chavez, a fashion design teacher, said that when schools reopened, students returned without “a high school-level mentality.”

“They were still very childish,” she said. “We had freshmen still holding hands like little kids do in elementary school, which was cute, but still scary.”

There were also fights, she added, because students thought “the response was to hit instead of talking things out.”

According to police data, there were 14,048 school safety incidents last school year. In the 2018-2019 school year there were 11,504. The increase comes amid discussion about how schools should respond to discipline problems.

In recent years, both the police department and the Department of Education have tried to reduce the frequency with which officers respond to low-level violations such as disorderly conduct. Police data shows that when uniformed officers and school safety officers respond, they are now more likely to send students back to their schools for discipline rather than arresting them or issuing a citation.

Still, the number of times students were suspended or expelled from class rose to 36,992 last year from 31,738 the year before, although this is still below pre-pandemic levels.

“Most discipline incidents are not serious,” said Madeline Borrelli, a special education teacher and member of Teachers Unite, an organization focused on ending “the school-to-prison pipeline.”

She said less-resourced schools, where teachers may be overwhelmed, may have to rely on punishments, including expulsion, suspension or calling in school safety officers, “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 plays an “outsized role” in school discipline.

And racial disparities persist. Black students make up a quarter of the city’s public school population but account for 40 percent of suspensions or expulsions from classrooms. More than 50 percent of incidents in which police intervened involved black students.

According to the mayor’s office, serious incidents at schools, such as assault and burglary, have generally remained relatively low compared to the end of 2010, but some recent incidents have been violent.

In February, two students were stabbed at Martin Van Buren High School in Queens; a 14-year-old boy was cut in the chest with a pocket knife outside MS 246 in Brooklyn; and a 12-year-old girl was stabbed at Pathways College Preparatory School in Queens, according to police.

And this month, an 8-year-old boy was found with a gun at his Brooklyn elementary school, though it was not loaded and no one was injured, police said.

David C. Bloomfield, a professor of educational leadership at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, said that gang activity appears to be on the rise in the city, and that “some of that has to do with the adolescent alienation that we see more generally .”

The increase in disciplinary problems in schools is disturbing for students and parents.

In December, a student was stabbed at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, prompting a lockdown. Fumbi Joseph Vilme, a freshman, said he stayed in the piano room for several hours. He said he wished there were metal detectors, “because you’re supposed to feel safe at school.”

His father, Marvin Vilme, who also attended the school, said he was shocked by the incident and has since considered homeschooling his son.

But Sumarha Tariq, who attended the High School of Fashion Industries, is among students who may have benefited from efforts to reduce police involvement in disciplinary issues.

After she was found in 2022 with pepper spray in her backpack, which is illegal for minors, a security officer escorted her to a school office.

The security officer 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 experienced harassment during her commute. She went through the rest of high school without any problems, graduated and is now a freshman at Yale University.

According to Ms. Tariq, this was “the best-case scenario.”

Hurubie Meko reporting contributed. Benjamin Steiger contributed research.