NYC Schools Still Discriminate Against Students Of Color And Disabled Pupils Despite Declining Arrests And Suspensions

Schools in New York City are currently seeing declining discipline reforms including arrests and suspensions among students. Despite that development, a new report found that students of color (blacks and Latinos) and disabled pupils are still being discriminated against.

Decreasing Number Of Arrests

According to the new data released by the New York City Police Department, arrests in city schools have plummeted to over 50 percent last year, with 80 percent fewer summons carried out. More specifically, 3,133 students were arrested in the 2010-11 school year by school safety or patrol officers, but that has decreased to 1,155 pupils last year.

This year, 436 students were arrested between January and March. This matches 2016's discipline reforms rate to last year's. Majority of students' encounters with police officers are due to misdemeanors or noncriminal violations of the administrative code, the New York Civil Liberties Union reported.

The latest data from the NYPD comes with a second set of school discipline reforms released by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio. The new reforms will end suspensions of second graders and below, and a new review policy based on NYPD school-level information will determine whether metal detectors should be used for added safety.

In the letter included in the new school discipline reforms, de Blasio said that NYC is not just punishing students; they're also coming up with "proactive" disciplinary approaches to ensure schools' safety and to teach pupils how to recognize the consequences of their behavior. De Blasio stressed that the new set of reforms are part of NYC's current plan to ditch "zero-tolerance" or severe punishments.

Students Of Color Still Receive Majority Of The Arrests And Disciplinary Actions

Despite these notable improvements, almost all disciplinary actions are carried out on NYC's students of color, the NYCLU noted. For years, low-level suspensions have included plenty of black, Latino, and disabled students and are deemed to be discriminatory.

This has been contributing to the School to Prison Pipeline, which is policies and practice that push schoolchildren in the United States into juvenile and criminal justice systems. A nationwide data from the U.S. Department of Education released in June found that African-American K-12 students are 3.8 times more likely to be given one or more out-of-school suspensions than their white counterparts, USA Today reported.

In accordance with NYC's new school safety plan, a $47 million fund will be directed to school climate and mental health initiatives every year, The Village Voice reported. It includes $15 million that will be given to schools that have the highest number of arrests, summons, suspensions, and calls to emergency medical services.