When New York City’s school-age students are suspended for serious offenses, they are assigned to spend their time away from school learning in designated classrooms and learning centers. But a new audit by the state comptroller found that more than half the time, they don’t show up.
The audit reviewed suspension and disciplinary data from New York City Public Schools over a four-year period and found high absentee rates among students suspended for more than five days and that many students who have been suspended multiple times are missing out on counseling and other support services.
Low attendance rates at the suspension centers can mean students struggle to catch up when they return to school. When they feel hopelessly behind, they are more likely to drop out, according to the audit.
“My auditors found concerning trends and deficiencies that indicate the need for stronger monitoring and improvements by New York City Public Schools to better support at-risk students,” state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a statement.
“I urge school officials to act on our recommendations to keep these students from falling through the cracks,” he said.
Over the four-year stretch, which spanned the pandemic, the audit also found Black and Latino students on average received longer suspensions than their white and Asian peers for the same infractions.
NYC Public Schools refuted most of the findings in the audit, and said the school system serves more than 900,000 students and is complex. The agency said the conclusions were not representative of the whole school system, which is moving toward a less punitive and more supportive approach to student behavior. In a response letter, the agency said it took the issues raised in the audit seriously.
“We agree with the importance of ensuring consistent disciplinary practices, robust documentation of support, meaningful monitoring of equity and improved outcomes for students who experience disciplinary actions,” NYC Public Schools wrote.
A spokesperson for NYC Public Schools didn’t immediately comment.
The report examined the school years between 2019-2023. Over that span, more than 16,000 students were disciplined two or more times. Those disciplinary actions included teachers removing students from class, principals suspending students for up to five days, and longer suspensions by the superintendent.
The audit stated there was no record that 40% of the students received support or interventions, such as counseling, peer mediation, social-emotional strategies or a behavioral plan. In one case, a student was disciplined five times related to weapon possession and use that resulted in 248 days of being removed from a classroom or the school over the course of a year. There was no record of the student receiving an intervention, the audit said.
Students who receive a superintendent’s suspension lasting longer than five days are supposed to receive instruction at another school or an alternative learning center. On average, these students were absent 54% of the time, according to the audit.
NYC Public Schools said the methodology used by the state comptroller, which used random samples, was flawed. School officials said they have made efforts to improve attendance rates by increasing monitoring and outreach.