School Arrests Are Down But Are Schools Safer?

The De Blasio administration was happy that the NYPD reported a decrease of 55% in arrest of students.  However, that does not make the schools safer since the decrease was based on school reforms.

These school reforms decriminalizes many actions such as drugs, insubordination, threats and many other actions.  Moreover, principals were no longer were ale to suspend students without the approval of the DOE at Tweed and were encouraged to handle misbehaving students "in-house", which included "warning cards" and restorative justice instead of suspension and arrest.  Finally. the NYPD reforms that reduced misbehavior by the public also apples to the students which also reduced criminal charges.

Obviously, statistics can lie when criminal student behavior is reduced to a non-criminal offense, giving the false impression o reduced criminality.  Does this makes schools safer?  Of course not and can increase school safety issues as students who made otherwise be suspended or arrested are free to cause havoc in the schools.  Just look at the disconnect between weapons found in the schools and suspensions.

The New York Daily News has an article about this Here.

School iscipline Policy Continues To Be A Joke

One of the sore points in the NYC school system is the school safety issue.   Under Mayor Bill de Blasio's school safety has deteriorated dramatically and continues to do so.  Just look at MS 158 in Queens.  Of course the statistics don't show it since many incidents go unreported or are quietly handled in house by school administrators who don't want to have the DOE penalize them as a dangerous school/

Under Mayor Bill de Blasio you have less student suspensions, not because there are less incidents but because principals are told not to suspend students for things like student misbehavior, insubordination, and drug use.  Instead, school safety officers and Deans are told to give out "warning cards" or refer the student to restorative justice  sessions that the students find as a joke.

Another issue is the use of cellphones in school.  In some schools the cellphone use was so bad that Principals have decided on their own to collect cellphones at the door, despite parent and student complaints.

Take a look at my four part series on school safety Here

Suspensions Drop In NYC Schools But They Are As Unsafe As Ever

The suspension rate has dropped lasr year, primarily due to the De Blasio administrator making it more difficult for principals to suspend misbehaving students and s reduction in arrests for drug possession and other low level criminal activity.

Last school year there were 32,801 suspensions, a 39% decrease from the previous five years.  However, it was not because students were better behaved but mostly because it became more difficult for principals to suspend students. In fact, principals are limited to a 20 day suspension!

While there are significantly less suspensions, the schools are still as unsafe as ever as otherwise suspended students are given a slap on the wrist and will continue to disrupt classes and cause chaos in the schools.

Imagine If Our Schools Followed The Example Of This School In Oklahoma?

A high school in Oklahoma has implemented a policy that fines students and their families $250 for repeated student lateness and believe it or not, can be imprisoned for up to 15 days in jail if they refuse to pay the fines!  This is the second high school that fines students who are late to school.  You can read the high school in Utah Here.

Can you imagine if that policy was adopted for the New York City High Schools where 20 to 25% of high school students show up late to class and over 50% for their first period class?   Moreover, just imagine that the fine money would totally eliminate the 10% budget shortfall that our schools currently experience and reduce class sizes to manageable numbers, from 34 to 25 or less.  Finally, the students who repeatedly show up late and refuse to pay the $250 fine will spend 15 days in the local pokey and probably stop going to school and disrupt the classroom, thereby allowing for coherent instruction and a peaceful classroom.  A win-win situation for the vast majority of students.

Of course I'm dreaming since Bill de Blasio will never allow fines for lateness and at worst will only approve "warning cards" to be issued rather than jail time.  Too bad, since it would go a long way in improving the hostile environment of the New York City high school classroom.   

Are Schools Safe? Yeah Right - Part 4.

The New York Post has an article that shows that rape and sexual assault has skyrocketed the last school year in the New York City public schools.  This is just another example how Mayor Bill de Blasio's lax student discipline code has resulted in the public schools being increasingly unsafe.

According to the New York Post, using NYPD school safety data found the following:

• Sex crimes skyrocketed by 138% last school year.
• There were 31 felony sexual misconduct arrests last year compared to 16 the year before. That is almost double from the 2016-17 school year.
• Overall sex crimes increased by 76% from 51 in the 2016-17 school year to 83 in the 2017-18 school year.
• Rape charges increased by 240% last school year, from 5 in the 2016-17 school year to 12 last school year.

Are our schools safe?  Yeah right!  If you believe in the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, and Santa Claus Just read my previous posts about school safety.  Here, Here, and Here. Also read this article  Here.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's Warped School Safety Program.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has weakened both school discipline codes and school safety rules since he took control of the New York City Public Schools.  Under the Mayor, he has made schools increasingly unsafe.

First, he allowed students to carry cellphones in school and this has proven a distraction to classroom learning.  Especially, in low achieving schools.

Second, he reduced suspensions by schools by requiring principals to get DOE permission before a school can suspend a student.

Third, he drastically reduced students carrying weapons from being arrested or suspended.

Finally, he has now imposed useless 'warning cards" for arrestable actions, like drug possession or disorderly conduct.

I feel sorry for parents who have academically proficient students and must suffer the distractions, chaos, and safety issues that Mayor Bill de Blasio has brought to the New York City Public Schools.

Fighting And Bullying Are A Common Occourrence In New York City Public Schools.

Despite Mayor Bill de Blasio's claim that New York City public schools are safer, the truth is far different.  In today's New York Post, the article claims that District 29, which includes Cambria Heights,  Hollis, Springfield Gardens, Saint Albans, and parts of Jamaica has the highest rates of bullying and fighting in the City.

According to the article, middle school IS 59 in Springfield Gardens had the highest reported occurrences of bullying and fighting.  At IS 59 in Springfield Gardens, 86 percent of students reported skirmishes — with 49 percent saying those occurred “most of the time.”  Also,  At Queens United Middle School in Springfield Gardens, 72 percent of survey takers reported regular fighting, with 42 percent saying it was a constant feature of their environment.

While District 29 in Queens has the highest incidents of bullying and fighting,the other school districts have similar issues with 43% of the city students reported fights in their school and 14%  see fights "most of the time".  Thanks to the lax school discipline policy by Mayor Bill de Blasio, students are not safe from bullying and fighting in the New York City public schools.
Safe schools?  Yeah Right.

The Disconnect Between Weapons In Schools And Student Suspensions.

The Bill de Blasio administration has made a big deal about the lower student suspension rate but is quiet when it comes to the uptick in student weapon confiscations. This disconnect is one of the reasons that Mayor Bill de Blasio's claim that the city schools are safer than ever is snickered at by most education experts.

In today's New York Post, Susan Edelman has published an article showing that weapon confiscations have risen significantly since Bill de Blasio became Mayor.  Despite the skyrocketing student weapon confiscations in school, the suspension and arrest rates have dropped since many of the weapons confiscated were considered legal such as kitchen knives and box cutters,  Moreover, principals are reluctant to suspend students caught with weapons because it hurts their statistics when being evaluated in their "quality review" and all suspensions must be approved by the DOE who can and do overrule the Principal's recommendation.

According to the Post's article weapon confiscations rose an astounding 28% last school year, rising from 2,119 in he 2016-17 school year to 2,718 in the 2017-18 school year,

No wonder students don't feel safe outside their classroom.   You can read my posts on weapons in the schools Here, Here, Here, and Here.

Protect The Child, Hurt The Children

Chalkbeat wrote an article that made the connection between suspensions and students dropping out or ending in juvenile hall.  I don't disagree with the connection between suspensions and academic failure.  However, what the paper did not say is what happens when students are not suspended but instead, have a restorative justice session and gets to misbehave back in the classroom.  The result, is he or she affects the otherwise, peaceful classroom where learning and teaching suffers.

Ask any teacher how student academics are adversely affected when a misbehaving student continually disrupts the classroom and distracts the rest of the students with his or her antics. Moreover, misbehaving students are one of the major factors for teachers quitting the urban classroom.  Finally, misbehaving students make other students and school staff  feel that the school is "unsafe".

Suspensions are a necessary punishment and remedy, not restorative justice, or a warning card.  A saying that has stood the test of time "if you do the crime than you must do the time.  That goes with suspensions for misbehaving students.

Violence, Threats, And Bullying Against School Staff Increases Under Bill De Blasio.

When Bill de Blasio became Mayor, he weakened the student discipline code, allowed student cellphones use in the schools, and reduced student misbehavior that had previously resulted in arrests or suspensions.  The result was that the De Blasio administrationhttps://nypost.com/2018/04/21/students-attacked-threatened-thousands-of-school-employees-last-year/ shwed student arrests and suspensions wewre down and the schools were safer. While school arrests and suspensions are down, due to lax discipline rules, school have becoming more unsafe.

The New York Post had an article that showed an increase in student assaults and threats against staff.  The numbers are very disturbing.

•  2016-17,  10.825 incidents.
• 2015-16,   10,357 incidents.
• 2014-15,    9.686 incidents.

The latest numbers show an unacceptable increase of 4,5% from the previous year and a 11.8% increase from two years ago.

“The mayor’s narrative is that the schools are safer, crime is down. These stats show crime is not down. Assaults are high, threats are high,” said school-agent union leader Gregory Floyd.
“I’ve said from the beginning of the de Blasio administration, the schools are out of control.”

The bottoim line is that the schools are more unsafe then ever.