On New Suspension Policies

Recently we had a consultation with our principal in which we discussed a member being cursed out in the hall. We asked what could be done about it. From the consultation notes we sent membership:

AP Security quoted the city discipline code, which indicates suspendible offenses but offers notable exceptions:

Level 3—“Defying or disobeying the lawful authority or directive of school personnel or school safety agents in a way that substantially disrupts the educational process and/ or poses a danger to the school community (this behavior does not include Level 1 or 2, uncooperative/ noncompliant or disorderly behavior, such as using profane language, B15; or wearing prohibited clothing, B09; or bringing prohibited items to school…

Note—This basically says there are very mild consequences for things like hats, phones, or mouthing off to teachers. They talk very tough, but the most extreme thing you can do in most of these cases is teacher removal from class and a parent conference.  AG

We were pretty shocked.  Read my column in today's Daily News for more.

Related: A former NYC teacher left this comment on Facebook: I worked in an NYC middle school for 10 months. They had outlawed detention and told me that I was supposed to simply call a parent when a student acted up. There was also no in-school suspension. Result: Absolute chaos I had no power to control. I wasn't even allowed to intervene when students fought. I had to call security and wait around 20 minutes for them to come and separate the students. Then I'd have to call the janitor to come clean up the blood. It was a nightmare.