Testimony of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum on Department of Education’s Discipline Code Public Hearing

The Department of Education is wasting its time revising the disciplinary code. Revision isn’t enough. You need to start from scratch and get it right.

The truth is that the new disciplinary policy has failed to make the majority of kids any safer or improve the learning environment at the majority of schools.

You promised that repeat troublemakers would be permanently removed from their schools. But school principals and deans of security from the Bronx to Staten Island tell me that’s not the case.

Last year at Taft High school, about one hundred students with multiple disciplinary infractions were allowed to come back come and sit in the same class with the student or teacher they threatened or attacked.

At Franklin K. Lane, forty were welcomed back, at Cardozo, twenty. And the list goes on.

Your recent announcement that half of the New Beginning centers will be closing is further evidence that there may be a code but there is no discipline.

The New Beginning centers are the places where repeat troublemakers were supposed to be sent, but starting this fall they’ll be sent back to their high schools for afternoon sessions.

Ms. Cahill is quoted as saying, “keeping students in their same school but somewhat separated actually works better.” If that’s the case, why did the DOE waste eighteen months and twelve million dollars on the New Beginning plan?

As for the revised plan, isn’t naïve to believe truants and troublemakers will show up to school at 2:30 when all their friends are out having fun?

The suspension policy isn’t the only aspect of the school safety plan that has turned out to be a bust. We are now learning that your Impact Schools initiative hasn’t been the major success you claimed.

In December of 2003, I said, “An effective school safety policy will ease tension and promote learning even as it reduces the number of incidents.” But just the opposite has happened at the impact schools.

Just a few days ago, students were out protesting the placement of cops on every corner in their schools, and today we learned why: because there was an astounding 99 percent increase in incidents like schoolyard harassment and classroom disruptions.

It’s clear: the learning environment for the majority is being compromised.

Tinkering with the code won’t solve the problem.

You need to go back to the drawing board and start over.