School suspension data

Good afternoon, Chairman Jackson and distinguished members of the Education Committee. I am Richard Farkas, vice president of middle schools at the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). I want to thank you for the opportunity to share our views on school safety and the implications of an over-reliance on suspension for disciplining New York City public students.

We are pleased that the Department of Education (DOE) complied with the Safety Act and shared the suspension data. As we’ve previously testified, we believe transparency is good. We can already see that the School Safety Act’s suspension reporting requirement has enabled greater oversight from the City Council; and parents, advocate groups and the press can better hold the DOE accountable for effective and equitable school discipline. We remain concerned however, about how schools manage safety issues and whether students would be better served by less emphasis on discipline and a greater emphasis on prevention and intervention.

As the members of this committee well know, the UFT is very concerned and vested in creating safe learning environments for our students and safe working environments for our members. We’ve supported the Council’s Respect for All programs and have long worked with Council for Unity in delivering self-esteem building and peer intervention programs in the schools. Committed to combating the troubling instances with bullying and harassment in school communities, we rolled out the BRAVE (Building Respect, Acceptance and Voice through Education) campaign to reinforce our core values and to support students coping with bullying and a lack of respect.

As the New York Times and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) have highlighted, we too, acknowledge some of the patterns that the data reveal about school suspensions for high needs and Black and Latino children. The rises in the suspense rates and the disparity along the lines of race and disability are troubling. I am sure you will hear a good deal of testimony today about Black students in particular, representing 1/3 of the school population, yet receiving over 50% of school suspensions. And that’s just in the schools with the highest incidences of suspense for which the DOE released the data, citing student privacy concerns for excluding data on the schools with 10 or fewer suspensions. Even given the limits of the data, it is clear that Black students are suspended at much greater rates than white students

The DOE owes the public and the parents an explanation for the disproportionate impact that school discipline has on students of color and students with disabilities. Are school leaders and their administration and staffs trained to provide positive reinforcement for desired behaviors as alternatives to severe disciplinary action? We also need to know whether the students with the greatest needs are being placed in environments without the proper supports that create the perfect storm for infractions in zero tolerance settings.

Suspension doesn’t treat the underlying causes of disruptive behavior — it’s a reactive tactic; it’s discipline after the fact. Creating collaborative and respectful school cultures with proactive approaches to behavior problems can help redirect students to the help that they need.

We have long felt that city schools need resources and support for active peer mediation, gang prevention and conflict resolution programs. In fact, these programs and services were once a significant presence and they were helping to make schools safe from harassment and bullying. As important, these programs and services led to fewer suspensions and other severe disciplinary actions. In our view, the City Council needs to ask the DOE to account for where these programs still exist and to restore these programs throughout the school system.

Our experience in the schools shows us the value of working with students in SAVE rooms and Alternative Learning Centers. Schools that utilize these options as an alternative to superintendent suspensions demonstrate the value of keeping the focus on learning and on counseling.

MS Esperanza — the Tito Puente School — is in the same district as the school with the highest suspense rate in the city, JHS 13 Jackie Robinson. Similar in many ways, Esperanza also faces many challenges, with many special need students. While there are greater numbers of students who are recent immigrants at Esperanza — the real difference is that Esperanza has a strong and trusted leadership that works collaboratively with the school staff. Suspense rates are lower than Jackie Robinson — but by no means the lowest in the city.

Looking beyond the suspense data we see that teacher responses on the survey rated Esperanza as one of the best school cultures in the city when it came to safety and respect. There’s a systematic process in place to transition students from the SAVE room back to class, which is largely successful because these students have completed their assignments at the site. The school developed a series of re-entry contracts between the guidance counselor and the student with a copy to teacher. The contracts cover what the student and what the school are accountable for, issues of problem solving and seeking support to remain on track. There are guidance follow ups and grade level best practice team meetings with teachers to help identify problems as they are forming. The staff places an emphasis on preventative steps during group meetings. Repeat offenses have decreased.

Staten Island’s IS 72 is a very large, popular and overcrowded middle school that works to maintain high behavioral standards and can have anywhere from 10-15 children in their SAVE room per day. The room is organized with folders for each child, textbooks, resources, computers and other supplies that are needed. Teachers send the work to the children through the Assistant Principal or the Dean. The SAVE room teacher makes sure that the children complete all the assignments. Each of the four guidance counselors is scheduled to meet with the students and aid re-acclimation back to the classroom.

These kinds of approaches to school safety help students identify underlying issues, increase self esteem, promote trust and problem solving and link students and families in need with resources at the school level and in the community.

We also need to take a look at what happens when superintendent suspensions are issues and students are removed from their classrooms and their schools. Specifically, recently released DOE data does not reveal whether students are keeping up with their school work. Is there a plan for transitioning them back to class when suspensions end? Are counseling personnel — guidance counselors, social workers, school psychologists — assigned for follow up and support? Is there a balance between the purely punitive and using an intervention as a learning and behavior change opportunity? We believe that the City Council should ask the DOE to dive deep behind the data and give an account for what’s really going on in the schools with these rising rates.

From a system standpoint, the DOE needs to take the best of what Esperanza, IS 72 and others are doing right and replicate them across the system. Clearly, the DOE needs to place a greater focus on re-acclimating students upon return from suspension and staunching recidivism.

Students on suspense should not be treated as an afterthought, shuttled from one room to the next, and then sent back to class. This is not “time out in isolation.” Students must be assigned appropriate class work, so they don’t lose credits and become disillusioned.

One of the biggest obstacles is communication and collaboration. All of the members of the school community need to work together — from the school leadership to teachers, school safety officers and counselors, to the networks and the DOE. And of course, some of the greatest partners are the parents and community education and safety advocates whose voices and ideas are important in this process.

We believe that at least in part, the more holistic approach to school safety has diminished due to the unrelenting emphasis on test prep by the DOE. As long as 85% of the school’s grades are based on standardized tests, we will continue to see these high rates of suspensions.

The administration needs to be dialed in to our students, so they have a better handle on the challenges they’re facing in school and at home. We need to communicate between professionals, so we can become better at assessing students before they enter the cycle of delinquency and the justice system. Hopefully today’s hearing will spur the DOE collaborate more with educators and safety advocates and we will have the opportunity to jumpshift what has become a very disturbing trend.

Thank you.