Objective

To determine whether New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) complies with Local Law 93 of 2015, NYCPS’ A-443 suspension procedures, and other relevant regulations or laws pertaining to suspensions for students attending public schools in New York City (excluding charter schools/students); and whether suspended students are receiving the required academic instruction they are entitled to during periods of suspension. The audit covered school years 2019–20 through 2022–23 and included students who were disciplined in these 4 years.

About the Program

Schools are responsible for creating and maintaining a safe, orderly, and supportive learning environment for all students. By establishing system-wide rules; setting clear expectations for student behavior; responding to misconduct consistently; and using appropriate supports, interventions, and disciplinary actions, disciplinary policies help prevent disruptions, reduce safety risks, and promote a positive school climate.

NYCPS, the nation’s largest public school system, serves more than 900,000 students across over 1,800 schools in grades K–12 throughout the five boroughs. Chancellor’s Regulation A-443 (Regulation A-443) outlines the procedures schools must follow when disciplining students, including when students may be removed from class or suspended, requirements for notifying parents/guardians, timelines for conferences and hearings, supports and interventions (e.g., counseling, mentoring, social-emotional learning strategies), alternate instruction during suspensions, students’ due process rights, and documentation requirements.

In addition to Regulation A-443, NYPCS’ Citywide Behavioral Expectations to Support Student Learning, commonly known as the Discipline Code, has one set of guidelines for grades K–5 and another for grades 6–12. It defines expected standards of student behavior; identifies conduct that violates these standards; and describes permissible supports, interventions, and disciplinary responses schools may use to address misconduct. NYCPS provides additional guidance to schools on discipline procedures in its Overview of Teacher Removal and Suspensions (2022–23). NYCPS’ Office of Safety and Youth Development (OSYD) is responsible for helping schools create and maintain a safe, orderly, and supportive school.

NYCPS disciplinary actions or responses (in this report, disciplines, disciplinary incidents, disciplinary actions, and disciplinary responses are used interchangeably) that address student misconduct, include teacher removals, principal suspensions, and superintendent suspensions.

• Teacher Removal: A teacher may remove a student from class for very disruptive behavior or behavior that interferes with instruction. Removals cannot exceed 1 school day for students in grades K–2 and up to 4 school days for students in grades 3–12. The student is removed only from the specific classroom where the behavior occurred and may attend all other classes. Instruction is provided in an alternate location in the school.
• Principal Suspension: A principal may suspend a student for 1–5 school days for behavior that poses a clear and present danger of physical injury to the student, other students, or school personnel; or prevents the orderly operation of classes or other school activities. Instruction is provided in an alternate location in the school (in-school suspension).
• Superintendent Suspension: A principal may request a superintendent suspension for more serious offenses (e.g., using or possessing a weapon, selling or distributing illegal drugs or controlled substances, using extreme force against others, inflicting/attempting to inflict serious injury). These suspensions range from 6–20 school days. In limited situations, students may receive suspensions longer than 20 school days. Instruction is provided outside the student’s home school. Middle and high school students are assigned to an Alternate Learning Center (ALC), while elementary school students are assigned to a neighboring “buddy” school.

All incidents, interventions, and supports must be documented in NYCPS’ Online Occurrence Reporting System (OORS) for all parties involved regardless of whether a disciplinary response is imposed. NYCPS uses its Suspensions and Office of Hearings Online system (SOHO) to document all disciplinary responses.

During the 4 school years included in our audit (2019–20 through 2022–23), 54,565 students were involved in 88,356 incidents that resulted in a disciplinary response (some students received multiple disciplines). Although total student enrollment declined by 10% from 2019–20 through 2022–23, the number of disciplinary incidents increased by 66%.

Pursuant to Local Law 93 of 2015, NYCPS is required to provide suspension data to the City Council through both annual and biannual reports. The annual report on student discipline must report suspension data from the preceding school year and be submitted by October 31 each year.

Key Findings

We identified several concerning trends and deficiencies in NYCPS’ administration of its student discipline program including:

• High rate of students disciplined multiple times. For the 4-year school period, 54,565 students had a total of 88,356 incidents that resulted in teacher removal, principal suspension, or superintendent suspension. Among these students, 16,605 (30%) were disciplined multiple times.
• Lack of documented supports and interventions for 41% of students with multiple principal and/or superintendent suspensions. Of the 16,605 students with multiple disciplinary actions, there was no record of supports and interventions for 6,735 (41%) students.
• Disparities in suspension length across racial/ethnic groups for the most frequent infractions. We found Black students received more disciplinary days, on average, compared with the other ethnic groups. For example, for intimidating and bullying behavior, Black and Hispanic students were disciplined an average of 5.75 and 4.66 days, respectively, compared with 3.88 days for White students and 3.61 days for Asian students.
• Failure to ensure all school staff completed all required behavioral supports training. In a judgmental sample of 20 schools (four schools from each of the five boroughs in school year 2022–23), all school staff who interact with students on a daily basis did not attend the required trainings related to behavioral supports.
• Suspensions exceeding the 20-day limit. We identified 113 students who received suspensions lasting more than 20 days involving 118 superintendent incidents, with suspensions ranging from 21–91 days.
• High absenteeism for students during superintendent suspensions. Attendance data for students with the most severe disciplinary actions (superintendent suspension) shows these students were absent, on average, 54% of the days they were assigned to receive instruction at alternative locations. Specifically, for the 11,878 students, with a total of 15,100 superintendent suspensions in grades 3–12, absenteeism rates ranged from 48% to 67%.
• Suspension notifications missing essential information. Regulation A-443 requires parents to receive written notification of principal or superintendent suspension within 24 hours. Many of the 134 suspension notifications (91 principal and 43 superintendent) provided to us for a sample of 59 students were missing information such as the date of the decision to suspend, the suspension start date, and the date the notification was issued to parents. Lacking this information, there is no assurance that notifications to parents met the required time frames.
• Inadequate documentation for suspension hearings and conferences. Regulation A-443 also requires principal-suspension conferences with parents and superintendent-suspension hearings to be held within 5 school days. However, for 80 of the 91 principal conferences and 12 of the 43 superintendent hearings, we could not determine whether the 5-day requirement was met because notices lacked the required dates to make this determination or the date provided could not be confirmed.
• High number of disciplinary incidents among selected students. For the 4-year period, 11 judgmentally selected students received 94 disciplinary actions, including teacher removals and principal/superintendent suspensions, ranging from two to 43 incidents per student. These students were removed from their regular educational program settings for 1–187 school days.

Key Recommendations

• Ensure appropriate supports and interventions are provided consistently to all students, especially those with high risk of being disciplined multiple times.
• Monitor length of suspensions assessed to ensure consistency across all racial/ethnic groups.
• Ensure all staff (including non-instructional staff) attend all mandated trainings, including those that address biases.
• Monitor the use of suspensions that exceed 20 days by identifying behaviors that lead to lengthy suspensions.
• Proactively monitor students’ attendance at alternative learning locations during superintendent suspensions and assess reasons for and take actions to address low attendance.
• Ensure compliance with Regulation A-443 for 24-hour written notification and 5-day conference/hearing for principal and superintendent suspensions. In addition, provide written notification to parents as soon as an incident that results in disciplinary action occurs.