Report: Obama’s fight against allegedly racist school discipline has been a total disaster in NYC

Justin Haskins  Apr 2, 2017 5:58 pm

President Barack Obama chats with students during a visit to a classroom at Pathways in Technology Early College High School, in Brooklyn, New York. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) 

A new study has found policies implemented by the Obama administration and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to fight what they believed to be racist school-discipline rules have resulted in additional violence and a “deteriorated” school climate.

In an abstract for his report, titled “School Discipline Reform and Disorder: Evidence from New York City Public Schools, 2012–16,” Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Max Eden claimed discipline-reform policies instituted by de Blasio at the behest of the Department of Education led to more “violence, drug and alcohol use, and gang activity.”

“Specifically, teachers report less order and discipline, and students report less mutual respect among their peers, as well as more violence, drug and alcohol use, and gang activity,” wrote Eden. “There was also a significant differential racial impact: nonelementary schools where more than 90% of students were minorities experienced the worst shift in school climate under the de Blasio reform.”

According to Eden, the discipline reforms required principals to seek written permission to suspend students from district administrators. Additionally, “De Blasio … introduced a $1.2 million initiative to train staff from 100 NYC schools in restorative justice and the School Climate Leadership Team to evaluate and report on the progress of his discipline reforms and their impact on school climate.”

The changes were sparked by civil rights activists claiming school-discipline policies across the country unfairly target minority students and treat white students better. It was also spurred on by a “Dear Colleague” letter issued by President Obama’s Department of Education warning schools that they could be investigated by the federal government if they were found to be disproportionately punishing minority students, even if the school’s policy never mentions race and no specific act of racism had occurred.

“In January 2014, the U.S. Department of Education issued a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter, advising districts that if their school discipline policy ‘is neutral on its face—meaning that the policy itself does not mention race—and is administered in an evenhanded manner but has a disparate impact, i.e., a disproportionate and unjustified effect on students of a particular race,’ they could become the subject of a federal civil rights investigation for unlawful discrimination,” explained Eden.

Twenty-seven states revised their laws as a result of these pressures, causing school suspension rates to plummet. In New York City, there were 53,504 suspensions during the 2013–14 school year. During the 2015–16 school year, that number had fallen to 37,647, a decline of more than 29 percent.

According to Eden’s study, gang activity on school grounds, violence, and drug and alcohol use increased as a result of the policies. Similarly, teachers reported significantly less order and discipline and students reported less “mutual respect.”

Interestingly, Eden’s study found minority students were harmed the most.

“Nonelementary schools where more than 90% of students were minorities experienced the worst climate shifts under the de Blasio reform, compared with schools serving a lower percentage of minority students and compared with 90+% minority schools under the reform,” wrote Eden.