As an elementary school teacher in Brooklyn, I applaud the mayor’s recommendations, released last week, for ending suspensions in kindergarten through second grade and reforming the Department of Education’s metal detector policy. As one of many teachers concerned about the future of New York City school children, I’m glad the city is taking this step to keep students in school. Schools are a place where children should be educated in every sense: academically, in civic participation, and in the development of social-emotional skills. All students should be encouraged to find success and support, not pushed out through suspensions or made to feel like they are criminals.
In several schools where I have worked, I’ve often heard the following rationalization for suspending students who present challenging behavior: “Should the needs of one or two students take precedence over the needs of the whole group?” Why instead aren’t we asking ourselves, “Whose needs are constantly being compromised for the needs of the majority?”
In a second grade class I once taught, five of my students were black boys. The only suspensions given to students in their grade that year were for three of these boys, two of whom were suspended multiple times by the administration for behavior like having a tantrum. Did suspensions change the behavior of these students? No. Did suspensions further alienate these students and their families from the school? Yes. Even in second grade, students realize when they aren’t wanted in a space, and it can become difficult for them to distinguish the adults’ responses to unwanted behavior from a feeling of exclusion, that they aren’t wanted in general. From talking to other teachers, students, and parents, I know this dynamic plays out in classrooms across the city. Black students in New York City represent less than 30% of the student population, yet in 2014-15 they served 53% of suspensions citywide. The lives of black youth matter, and we have to keep them in the classroom.
As I thought critically about my role as a white educator in an institution that actively pushes out youth of color, I chose to seek out instructional practices that matched my belief about children. This led me to restorative justice, a philosophy rooted in traditions that emphasize building community. In the life of a school, that means knowing our students and responding, when students misbehave, to the needs of everyone impacted by the harm done, rather than pushing out students who, often looking for community and acceptance, exhibit behavior as a result of these needs. I have successfully incorporated several restorative approaches into my classrooms, but it is challenging work that needs more district-wide support and funding.
The mayor has committed to greater funding for this work in high-need schools, including mental health supports and professional development, in addition to the policy changes recommended. But the Department of Education still lacks a comprehensive strategy for reducing racial disparities in discipline and policing. Far more schools need multi-year funding to directly hire their own dedicated, school-based restorative justice coordinators and cover program costs. Additional policy changes are also needed: We have to end suspensions for minor misbehaviors in higher grades too, like the highly subjective “defying authority” infraction, long opposed by Teachers Unite and the Dignity in Schools Campaign-New York.
Even before the current conversation about institutional racism in the United States, the groundswell of activists fighting for black lives has resulted in local school district reforms in Chicago, Denver, Miami, Oakland, and elsewhere, that address the racial disparities seen in overused and ineffective suspensions. It’s about time New York City joined the list of cities beginning to answer the calls of their communities. The nation is challenging the widespread police killings of innocent black people through activism, protests, art and critical thinking, and community empowerment. Let’s ensure that New York City is really committed to the health and safety of black children. Greater investment in school climate will inspire academic success, rather than a foreboding sense of distrust and hostility.
New Yorkers deserve public schools that are adequately funded and resourced. If we want schools to be safe places for all students, we must ensure that black students are treated with dignity and acceptance.
Editor’s note: This story has been edited to remove an incorrect reference to the school safety budget.
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