Dive Brief:
- A panel appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio found that suspensions and arrests in city schools dropped substantially last year, over the 2011-12 school year.
- Meanwhile, the number of major crimes in schools dropped 25%.
- Over the past decade, crimes in the city’s public schools have dropped by nearly 50%.
Dive Insight:
Critics of de Blasio’s predecessors accused the past administration of feeding the school-to-prison pipeline by implementing policies that mandated steep punishments for minor offenses. Under de Blasio, some of those policies have been rolled back amid a larger move away from zero tolerance discipline nationwide. President Barack Obama has encouraged that move through initiatives like My Brother’s Keeper that encourage school districts to reexamine their discipline policies, which often disproportionately impact minority students and students with disabilities.
One interesting note: Just 10% of New York City schools account for 41% of the city's suspensions. National data has spotlighted similar hotspots at the district level, where tough disciplinary strategies are the norm.