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The Crackdown on New York City Students


Last month, a 5-year-old kindergarten student in a Queens public school threw a temper tantrum. After being taken to the school office, he shoved some things off his principal's desk. In response, a school safety agent handcuffed the child, and school officials sent him to a psychiatric ward for evaluation - even after a babysitter arrived on the scene asking to take the boy home.

The incident made the front page of the Daily News, and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein expressed concern about it. Unfortunately, though, it was not an isolated occurrence. Instead the incident at the Queens school represented an extension of the even more abusive discipline used in middle and high schools across New York City.

A heavy police presence and discipline policies that rely on punitive zero-tolerance approaches, are denying students their fundamental human rights to a quality education and to be treated with dignity.

Police in the Hallways

The New York Police Department employs and supervises more than 5,000 school safety agents. An additional 200 armed police officers patrol New York City schools. This massive presence would make the city police department's school safety division the fifth largest police force in the country - larger than the police forces of Washington DC, Detroit, Boston or Las Vegas. This uniformed force creates a prison-like environment and results in police getting involved in school disciplinary matters that used to be dealt with by a visit to the principal's office.

"With more than 5,000 agents, the NYPD's school safety division is larger than the police forces of Washington D.C., Detroit, Boston or Las Vegas."

Interviews with students documented in reports by the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, the New York Civil Liberties Union and other organizations reveal that students are harassed, handcuffed, patted down and in some cases arrested for shouting in hallways, being late to school, and talking back to teachers and safety personnel. This kind of misconduct, while inappropriate, is fairly typical adolescent behavior that should be dealt with by educational staff. Even being involved in a fight, does not make a student a criminal. Safety agents can play an important role in schools, but they need better training and clear guidelines for how and when to intervene. Analysis of data from the Department of Education by the NYCLU found that police are increasingly involved in non-criminal incidents in school. During the 2004-2005 academic year, 77 percent of police incidents in schools with permanent metal detectors (those the Department of Education deems dangerous) were for non-criminal incidents, compared to only 6 percent for major crimes.

Harsh and Unequal Punishment

The use of suspensions in schools is also increasing. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of superintendent suspensions (involving more serious conduct and lasting for six days to as much as a year) rose by more than 76 percent, from 8,567 a year to 15,090. Students can get suspended for up to 90 days for "engaging in intimidating" behavior or "threatening" a student or staff member, and as many as 10 days for "being insubordinate." The definitions of these infractions are quite vague and punishment can be applied unevenly, with devastating consequences for the academic development of children.

Under these vague standards, African American and Latino students are suspended at disproportionate rates. For example, in 2004, African American students made up 33 percent of the enrollment in New York City schools, but accounted for 52 percent of out-of-school suspensions, according to data from the U.S. Office of Civil Rights.

Without question, police presence and school suspensions are distributed unequally, disproportionately targeting students of color from poor communities. About 82 percent of students in schools with permanent metal detectors are African American or Latino, compared to the average of 71 percent citywide, according to data analyzed by the civil liberties union. These same schools with permanent metal detectors and heavy police presence are also some of the most overcrowded and resource-starved schools in New York City. For example, schools with permanent metal detectors are 18 percent over capacity, compared with the citywide average of 6 percent.

Disrupted Learning

Police incidents and suspensions have a devastating impact on a student's education. Students told interviewers from the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative that a suspension of even one week is "a lot of class time" to miss. Being forced from school for two weeks or more resulted in students falling behind, missing tests they were not allowed to make up, and even failing classes, leading to summer school or repeating a semester.

Not surprisingly, this contributes to the dropout rate. The National Center for Education Statistics found that 31 percent of students who had been suspended three or more times before the spring of their sophomore year dropped out of school. Only 6 percent of students who had never been suspended left school without a high school diploma.

Looking at the Alternatives

To address these destructive policies, New York City schools first need to improve monitoring and accountability for school safety agents, police and suspension policies. A coalition of organizations in New York City has called for the City Council to adopt the Student Safety Act. This measure would create mechanisms for students to file complaints against school safety agents and would require the education department and the police to report to the City Council about police incidents and suspensions, including providing breakdowns by race. The coalition includes Advocates for Children, the Correctional Association, Make the Road New York, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Teachers Unite, the Urban Youth Collaborative and the Children's Defense Fund - New York.

Beyond this, there needs to be a fundamental shift in the way schools deal with discipline and safety. Discipline should be a part of the educational mission of our schools and focus on conflict resolution, positive behavioral skills and providing students with mediation, counseling and support.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world, states that school systems must "ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child's human dignity." Used by school systems in countries around the world, the convention states that school policies must not violate the dignity of students, cause mental or physical humiliation or harm, or criminalize adolescent behavior. Instead, "the education of the child shall be directed to the development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential." The New York City Council in 1989 embraced these principles when it passed a resolution (Resolution 1891) supporting the Convention on the Rights of the Child and acknowledging that children have the right to "education and the right to develop in a safe environment free from discrimination."

Research and best practices from school districts around the country support this approach. For example, a growing number of school districts have implemented Positive Behavior Intervention and Support or PBIS. It aims to prevent conflict and behavior problems, along with student suspensions and other extreme punishment, by making sure students understand what is expected of them and helping students meet those expectations. This approach provides assistance for students with chronic behavior problems and seeks to involve families and the community.

In Illinois, over 150 school districts have adopted some type of PBIS. One study found that in 12 Chicago public schools implementing it, the percent of students who received six or more disciplinary referrals fell by more than half over three years, from 6 percent to 2 percent.

In February 2007, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest district in the country after New York City, passed a new policy to implement School-wide Positive Behavior Support, its version of PBIS. Policy makers at the federal level also have begun to take notice. Last September, Senators Barack Obama and Richard Durbin and Representative Phil Hare, all of Illinois, introduced the Positive Behavior for Effective Schools Act, which would allow school districts to use federal funds for Positive Behavior Intervention and Support and other preventive approaches to discipline.

New York City, though, has so far remained on the sidelines. It is time for the people who run the nation's largest public school system to acknowledge the devastating impact their punitive and sometimes draconian policies are having on our children and implement positive and preventive discipline that will create nurturing environments and keep students in school.

Liz Sullivan is Human Right to Education Program Director for the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative.

 

Investing in Higher Education


Arriving in America at the age of 13 from Macau, Benny Lee knew that education was the best chance he would have for a bright future in his newly adopted country. He studied hard and finished in the top 20 of his class in a high school in Jamaica, Queens.

But when it was time for college, his options were limited because of his parents' modest income. Eventually he chose Baruch College, part of the City University of New York. He did not even apply to any private colleges.

"I felt that private colleges are too expensive, and I didn't want to put big burden to my parents," said Lee, now an information technology executive at an investment bank in Manhattan. "Compared to private colleges, CUNY is a good bargain with competitive programs."

Lee is one of the hundreds of thousands of graduates of CUNY, the largest urban university in the United States with 230,000 students in its 23 institutions. Historically serving a diverse student body, especially those excluded from or unable to afford private universities, CUNY offers education to New York City's working class and immigrants. Thirty-eight percent of its first-time freshmen were born overseas.

Mostly immigrants could not afford the high price of private colleges," said Lee. "CUNY is definitely an alternative to high prices of private colleges and opportunity to allow immigrant students with little money to have a decent college education."

Today CUNY and SUNY, or the State University of New York face a number of challenges, including rising tuition and the fight to provide a quality education. With Gov. Eliot Spitzer promising major changes at the two institutions, many wonder what that will mean for schools that have provided many immigrants with the education they needed to better their lives and the lives of their children.

Keeping the Price Down

John Liu, a New York City Councilmember from Flushing, Queens, and a graduate of SUNY Binghamton, said public higher education is indispensable to immigrant families. "And it is not just special for immigrants but also for other working-class families," said Liu, who emigrated from Taiwan at 5. "It is important to the equalizing of the playing field."

Liwia Rosamond, a native of Poland, came to New York in 1997 and eventually settled in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. After teaching English as a second language teacher for many years, she earned a Master's degree in French literature and culture from Hunter College, also a CUNY institution.

"CUNY gave me a new career," said Rosamond, who recently found a job teaching French in a high school in Queens. "As an immigrant and adult, I was able to work full-time, pay my New York rent and get my master's degree at Hunter. I believe that this is one of the very few places where you can get a high-quality education at an affordable price."

The city university, though, is more expensive today than it once was. With the aim of serving the underprivileged, CUNY was tuition-free until 1975, when the city's fiscal crisis forced it to impose tuition. Now the four-year colleges charge $4,000 per year while the community colleges are priced at $2,800 per year and receive public funding.

SUNY, the largest university system in the nation with 64 campuses and over 400,000 students, also receives public funds. Its price tag is set at $4,350 for four-year colleges and $3,176 for two-year colleges.

While the tuition rates at CUNY and SUNY have increased by 25 percent or more in the last decade, they still fall behind other major state flagship institutions. For example, the University of Michigan charges from $5,129 to $7,126, and Rutgers University in New Jersey between $8,540 and $9,484. The University of California at Berkeley, widely recognized as the top public university in the country, is priced at about $8,000 per year, while the tuition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ranges from $8,440 to $12,232 depending on the major. Out-of-state and international students generally pay more than double the price.

Undocumented Immigrants and Public College

As legal immigrants and their children continue to benefit from the quality education from CUNY and SUNY, things can be more difficult for students without documentation. Ten states (California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Washington) offer in-state tuition to long-term undocumented students, who were born overseas but raised in America.

The subject recently became a hot issue in the Republican presidential race. In a CNN/YouTube debate with his fellow Republican candidates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney attacked Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for giving illegal immigrants "special treatment" for offering them publicly subsidized college education. He also criticized former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for "welcoming" illegal immigrants. Both Giuliani and Huckabee support offering in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants who meet certain criteria.

According to CUNY's official Web site, an undocumented student in New York is eligible for in-state tuition if he or she has attended a New York high school for at least two years and graduated from it, or has attended a New York State program for a General Equivalency Diploma and received a GED issued in New York. In addition, the prospective student must apply for college within five years of high school graduation and file an affidavit stating that he or she has filed or will file for legal residency. The student also must show proof of New York residency.

Undocumented students who graduated from high school with at least a B average can also apply for the Vallone Academic Scholarship ($1,250 per year) if they enroll in college within two semesters after high school graduation and maintain at least a B average. They can also apply for the tuition-free Macaulay Honors College.

"As long as they pay taxes, I think it is right to offer them in-state tuition," said Lee. "A lot of these people pay taxes but do not get any benefit. I don't think it is right."

According to statistics, many of the country's 12 million illegal immigrants pay taxes under a purchased Social Security Number or a government-issued tax ID number for someone without a Social Security number. But they usually are unable to collect welfare or medical benefits except for emergency medical care and a primary and high school education. About $7 billion a year in taxes filed by undocumented immigrants pours into the Social Security Administration.

"New York has a long history of being friendly to all immigrants - both the documented and the undocumented ones," said Rosamond. "These undocumented people usually pay all the taxes just as the people with green cards, and they deserve to be treated like New York residents because they are."

That aside, Liu thinks helping immigrants get an education represents a good investment. "It will benefit the overall society because those who benefit from the education will only come back to make more money and pay more taxes than they would otherwise," he said.

However, according to State Legislature magazine, published by the National Conference of State Legislatures, many American apparently disagree. Some states that grant the in-state tuition are facing lawsuits from people who oppose that. Utah is looking into ending the policy, while Georgia and Arizona have both voted to bar illegal immigrants from receiving the in-state tuition benefit.

Reshaping New York's Public Universities

As the in-state tuition debate continues, a report conducted by Governor Eliot Spitzer's special commission on higher education has suggested that the state increase spending on public universities in the hope of revamping New York's public higher education. Many fear that another tuition hike could be just around the corner.

The 30-member commission, chaired by Hunter Rawlings, a former president of Cornell University, urged the state to create its own low-cost student loan program, and to hire 2,000 new full-time faculty, including 250 eminent scholars in five years.

The preliminary report called for the creation of a $3 billion innovation fund to support research at public and private universities in fields like bioscience, engineering and medicine that can drive economic development. It also called for more focused attention devoted to SUNY's four research campuses in Albany, Binghamton, Stony Brook and Buffalo.

Among other recommendations, the report said support for public universities should be more predictable, proposing a "compact" in which the costs of new investment would be shared by the state and the universities.

Both CUNY and SUNY administration applauded the report, saying it is an urgent matter to keep New Yorkers competitive.

"In 1975, CUNY employed more than 11,000 full-time faculty. Today, 6,500 full-time faculty work at the university," said Matthew Goldstein, chancellor of CUNY. "This is a decrease of more than 40 percent, although our student enrollment has grown to its highest level in over three decades. The commission's recommendation would help to reverse this pronounced decline."

Even if Spitzer embraces the plan, it is expected to face opposition in the legislature. Kenneth LaValle, a Republican senator from Port Jefferson and a member of the commission, said he favored modest, regular tuition increases but opposed having "differential tuition" from campus to campus, which would lead to higher tuition at the research centers.

"No student who attends the state university should have a feeling that their degree is worth less than those who are paying more money," he told the New York Times. "There were other ways to ensure that the research campuses drew more dollars."

Larry Tung, a native of Taiwan, teaches media and film courses at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. A resident of Brooklyn, he is also a documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on immigrant and Asian American issues.  

Stated Meeting: Columbia Gets Approval


Most of us make New Year's resolutions or at least we attempt to.

We hear them recited over and over by friends, family and in our own heads:

"I will lose 30 pounds."

"I will quit smoking."

"I will stop introducing frivolous resolutions."

Wait, what?

Just like the personal pledges we make every year, the City Council has its own resolutions. Some, like those approving the budget, have clout. But many opine on state or federal policy or take a stand on a controversial issue outside the council's jurisdiction and are completely nonbinding. The 51 members of the New York City Council introduced 507 resolutions in 2007, and some City Hall observers and prospective candidates argue they should cut back for 2008.

"I think often my gut instinct is they are symbolic expressions of sentiment by the City Council or perhaps groups that are pressuring the City Council or exerting pressure on the legislature," said Russ Haven, legislative counsel for the New York Public Interest Research Group, of resolutions.

Contending the measures are merely symbolic or for political gain, some critics claim that resolutions waste the council's time and should be eliminated completely or capped at a "reasonable" level.

While you may agree or disagree with a resolution's purpose - whether it's your own promise or one from the New York City Council - at least one similarity is difficult to ignore: Like the more than 90 percent of individuals who will fail to meet their goals in 2008, most City Council resolutions will likely fail to fulfill the aspirations of their sponsors, observers said.

The Purpose

What exactly does a resolution do? Technically - for a large number of them - nothing.

While resolutions are used to formally approve the budget and financial transfers and to confirm any uniform land use review procedure, many merely express the views of the council - after all, they call them nonbinding for a reason.

Thanks to the City Charter, the City Council really can't do that much. It may have sole power over the budget's approval and land use review procedures, but much of the "sexy" issues, as one lobbyists put it, are the responsibility of the mayor or the state government. Resolutions provide a means for council members to get involved, said City Hall observers.

From urging the state legislature to adopt a real estate tax rebate for veterans to creating a symbolic moratorium on the pejorative use of the word bitch, policy-related resolutions have no teeth and no requirement that any New Yorker comply.

Though nonbinding resolutions lack the power of enforcement, some members can't get enough of them.

Out of the 507 resolutions introduced in 2007, 66 percent were procedural in nature, usually a land use resolution memorializing a rezoning or redevelopment approval. About 170 were policy oriented, nonbinding resolutions, and of those 17 percent were approved.

Not surprisingly, of the 51 City Council members, chairs of committees affiliated with the land use review procedure or finance, like Melinda Katz, who chairs land use, or David Weprin, who heads the Finance Committee, have sponsored or co-sponsored the largest portion of resolutions - 268 and 147 respectively.

While the majority of members have sponsored or co-sponsored about 50 items, a few, including Dennis Gallagher and David Yassky, signed on far more sparingly.

Beyond the City's Borders and the City Charter

Policy-based resolutions often express opposition or support for state or federal legislation and can even take a stand on foreign policy - from the distribution of resources in China to the plight of democracy in Myanmar. Even council members admit that their efforts to weigh in on such distant matters has made the body the target of ridicule.

But the introduction and subsequent approval of these resolutions can send a meaningful message to one's constituents, some council members say. While the People's Republic of China may not notice if a City Council thousands of miles away votes to condemn its labor practices, residents of Bed-Stuy, Jackson Heights and Harlem could appreciate that their representatives took a stand.

"I think its good idea for us to come out and condemn genocide in Darfur," said Councilmember Michael Nelson. Overall, he added, a resolution's impact can depend on its scope. "It can definitely have an effect. In some cases it can be questionable."

Knowing that internationally focused resolutions are unlikely to affect uprisings in Asia or Africa, some say the intentions behind this type of measure are entirely political.

"Is it just something they are going to trot out in their end-of-year newsletter or are they trying to educate the public?" asked Haven of New York Public Interest Research Group. "It's very hard to separate the just self promotional aspects to the genuine advancement of policy."

Even some council members admit that these resolutions are to draw attention to the sponsors. Councilmember Tony Avella said as the 2009 elections approach, he expects many more symbolic gestures to be introduced on the council floor.

Influencing U.S. and State Policy

In the 2007 legislative session, council members introduced 30 resolutions calling on the federal government to pass legislation or change policy. Of those, four were approved, including a resolution (Res. 842) urging Congress to adopt a comprehensive immigration policy that protects the civil liberties of undocumented immigrants and fully incorporate them into society.

As you recall, Congress was not swayed by the New York City Council.

Whether this legislation can make an impact on a smaller scale is a greater question. More than 50 resolutions introduced in 2007 were aimed at the state government in Albany - though the full council approved only seven of them. Given the size of the city's delegation in the legislature, the council's resolutions on state issues could have some influence, some political observers suggest.

Weprin, for example, introduced a resolution in 2004 urging the state Legislature to approve Timothy's Law -- a bill that expanded medical coverage for the mentally ill and people with substance abuse problems.

Once the council held a widely publicized hearing and passed the resolution, Weprin said Albany finally acted. He couldn't attribute the bill's passage entirely to his resolution, but the councilman said it helped.

"I think it's part of your responsibility as the council to use that bully pulpit for the greater good, and part of that is trying to influence state and federal policy makers, whether it's legislators, governors, presidents," Weprin said.

But many of the state-targeted nonbinding resolutions passed in the 2007 legislative session were not so successful.

For instance, when the City Council approved a resolution urging the state legislature to approve a recycling center on the Gansevoort peninsula that would enable the city to follow through with its Solid Waste Management Plan, Albany turned a deaf ear.

It's even difficult to get city's agencies to pay attention. When the council approved a resolution in March urging the Department of Education to reassess its milk offerings in school cafeterias, the department did not change its policy to offer only low-fat or 2 percent milk in schools. A department spokesperson said the current arangement helps keep kids healthy.

"The effect of resolutions being introduced is to mobilize interest groups," said Norman Adler, president of lobbying firm Bolton-St. Johns. "Given the substantive number of them that are introduced, I would say their impact is minor."

Banning Resolutions

Some, including Bob Zuckerman, who plans to run for the City Council in 2009, want to do away with the nonbinding measures all together.

"What is the purpose of a council resolution saying that we think the state legislature should pass this?" asked Zuckerman. "That's why we have state legislature."

Others argue a resolution can have an impact if an individual council member follows through. When a council member can get a resolution to the floor and get it passed, Avella said, the individual member must then work to see it become successful upstate, in Washington, D.C. or elsewhere.

"Even when you just succeed at getting it passed, the council doesn't do anything with it," said Avella. "It sits on a shelf. It's up to the author of the resolution to move it."

The Labor of a Lobbyist

Most of the nonbinding resolutions never make it to the full council (Some council members contend whether a resolution gets a hearing depends on his or her relationship with Council Speaker Christine Quinn).

But even if a resolution doesn't make it to the floor, it can still cause ripple effects throughout City Hall.

It may, for example, mobilize interest groups for and against the measure. More than a decade ago, the then-sitting City Council introduced a resolution condemning the Anheuser-Busch Companies for alleged discriminatory policies against minority and independent business owners.

Adler, who was hired by the beer company as a lobbyist, recalled the company paid thousands of dollars in a successful effort to quash the resolution. While the symbolic legislation never threatened Anheuser-Busch financially, it still thought it had to fight the nonbinding measure.

"In my experience in lobbying at City Hall over the years, resolutions very frequently annoy or frighten corporations," said Adler. "It puts meat and potatoes on the table of many a lobbyist."

A Resolutionary Recap

Here is a sample of some of the resolutions that were introduced during the 2007 legislative session:

Limiting Homework: As Councilmember Peter Vallone prepares to introduce a resolution to limit homework for New York City public schools students to two hours a night, he has his kids in mind. The resolution, which calls on the Department of Education to reform its homework policy, also landed him on a plethora of national broadcasts and made headlines in many city papers.

Obama's Bill: Sometimes it's not the premise of the resolution that sparks controversy, but its lack of movement. Councilmember Darlene Mealy introduced a resolution earlier this year endorsing a bill on voting rights sponsored by presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. Another councilmember, Charles Barron, claimed Quinn buried the resolution because she supports Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. He also called Quinn a racist. Barron and Quinn often clash over legislative matters.

Iran Divestment: City Council Minority Leader James Oddo introduced a resolution in August urging the city and the state to divest their pension funds in companies who invested in Iran's energy sector. The resolution hasn't received a hearing but did get some press.

Curbing Curses: Twice this year, members introduced resolutions symbolically banning the use of certain words. First was one on the n-word, introduced by Councilmember Leroy Comrie, which passed in February. The b-word measure introduced by Mealy followed. That resolution, introduced in July, has yet to receive a hearing.

Sorry for Slavery: Following the example of some states in the South, several black members of the City Council introduced a resolution in April expressing profound regret for slavery. That resolution also has not received a hearing.

Caffeine Count: Councilmember Simcha Felder introduced a measure in February urging the federal government to require food companies to include caffeine counts on nutrition labels. The council never moved on it and neither did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

 

A Common and Necessary Practice?

Faced with the opportunity to take on issues like these, the City Council is unlikely to abandon such resolutions anytime soon. Members like resolutions: The number of them introduced on the Council Chamber floor in 2007 outnumbers the number of bills, or introductions, during the same time period by nearly 3 to 1.

"Every resolution has its place," said Councilmember Letitia James. "Some of them are more influential than others. Some of them are not worth the paper they are written on."  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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