Chalkbeat

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disciplinary code

it's official

New York
April 19, 2017

Today’s the day: Long-debated changes to the city’s discipline code are now in effect

Here’s a crash course on some of the key changes.

code shift

New York
April 6, 2017

NYC set to adopt long-debated changes to student discipline code that will further reduce suspensions

The debate over the city’s discipline code raises larger questions, some of which are also being asked in other large school districts across the country.

code shift

New York
January 13, 2017

New York City moves to significantly reduce K-2 suspensions, but isn’t eliminating them

“It’s hard for us to look at reductions in overall suspensions and feel as if we’re getting to the root of the problem, when the disparities remain sky-high.”
New York
August 28, 2012

Disciplinary code revisions could reduce student suspensions

The Department of Education has revised portions of its disciplinary code to make consequences for poor behavior less strict for the youngest students. The revisions were made after a heated public hearing and several months of lobbying from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and Councilman Robert Jackson, the chair of the council's education committee. They include the elimination of a type of suspension known as the "superintendent's suspension," which requires students to miss six to ten days of school, for students in Kindergarten through third grade who have committed low to mid-level disciplinary infractions. The second change heralded by the council members was the addition of a strategy for teachers to use to deal with early behavioral problems that calls for a conference with the student, his or her parents, and a social worker. During the conference, the adults would help the student develop an "individual behavior contract" where they will lay out goals for improved behavior and tasks the student should meet to reach those goals. Jackson said in a statement that he and Quinn pushed for the changes because young elementary school students who miss school are at risk of struggling academically in later years. "Providing guidance based interventions and eliminating overly harsh punishments for children in the critical grades of K-3, will foster positive behavior and encourage the developmental growth of our students," he said.
New York
June 25, 2010

School-eye views of the city's new draft discipline standards

When the city proposed changes to its discipline rules, its new policy towards "cyber-bullying" and "sexting" caught the public eye. But the central changes have nothing to do with text messages. They represent a win by civil rights groups who have been calling on the city to make sure that schools use more counseling and less punishment and suspension to resolve problems. At a hearing on the proposed changes Wednesday, one middle school principal described a program that she piloted and is now part of the new code. In some schools the program, which is known as PBIS and is designed to encourage good behavior in all students at a school, can include a reward system in which students collect points toward a prize for demonstrating things like good study skills. Denise Jamison, principal of Williamsburg's M.S. 50, said that the program has helped improve the behavior of even some of her most struggling students. The "hottest ticket" for rewards, she said, is a "No Uniform Today" pass, or "NUT card." One day, she recalled, she pulled over a student well-known by school staff for his temper and asked why he wasn't in uniform. "He pulls out [his NUT card], and we all started congratulating him," she said. "Because we knew how much he would have had to improved in order to earn that."