Opinion: Students with Disabilities Deserve Fair Treatment, Not Suspensions

“A disciplinary removal represents a critical turning point in a student’s education, especially for those with disabilities. With proper advocacy, this moment can become an opportunity to reinvest in our most at-risk students rather than a step toward disengagement and dropout.”

When Cole, a sixth-grade student in Brooklyn, received his third suspension notice last fall, it marked a missed opportunity for New York City’s school system to protect its most vulnerable students.

Like thousands of other students with disabilities in our public schools, Cole faced repeated removals from his classroom without proper consideration of his special education needs. Due to the effects of trauma suffered throughout his childhood, Cole struggles to control his anger, gets triggered easily, and experiences outbursts in class.

But unfortunately, rather than try to understand Cole’s emotional needs or how the school could support Cole in the future to avoid outbursts, his school only focused on punishment for Cole, suspending him three times and disrupting his education for over two months. 

New York City schools’ punitive approach to addressing behavior issues of students with disabilities not only violates the law but is derailing the lives of students most at risk, and misses the opportunity to address the behaviors that would greatly benefit the school community including teachers and fellow students.

If the city really cares about the mental health of New Yorkers as the mayor mentioned in his State of the City address, it starts with schools, which can and must do more to give students with disabilities the same educational opportunities as their peers. 

After a long and shameful history of schools using suspensions and discipline to segregate students with disabilities, Congress and the New York State legislature passed laws to ensure that these students were met with support rather than exclusion.

The law requires school districts to conduct a “Manifestation Determination Review” (MDR) before long-term removals of students with disabilities from their classrooms. This critical meeting seeks to answer two questions: whether the behavior that led to the suspension stemmed from the student’s disability, and whether the student was not receiving his or her mandated special education services.

If either answer is yes, the student must return to class immediately, and the school must then determine the root causes of the behavior and the steps necessary to help the student avoid engaging in the behavior again. The goal is to ensure that students with disabilities are not punished for their disability. But the numbers tell a much different story.

New York City public schools issued over 14,000 disciplinary removals of students with disabilities last school year–nearly 40 percent of total suspensions, despite these students comprising only 22 percent of the student population. 

Each suspension represents more than lost classroom time; it often means the denial of crucial special education services and the first step toward more serious academic and behavioral struggles, school disengagement, and eventual school dropout.

Independent MDR monitor reports in New York City public schools from 2015-2018 found that only 45-55 percent of the time was there “effective discussion” of the student’s disability at the MDR meeting, a stat backed up by what many legal advocates are finding in those meetings. Further, and not surprisingly, data showed that schools were more likely to find that the behavior was related to a student’s disability for white students than their Black and Latinx peers.  

When MDR’s are not conducted properly, schools miss an important opportunity to avoid disruptions for all students by getting to the root of students’ behavior issues. Experts and state and local departments of education have found again and again that punishment of students with disabilities actually works against the desired outcome of decreasing disruptive behavior, leaving students with shame and distrust. 

Rather, schools should develop responsive discipline policies that are inclusionary, rely on relationships, and implement strategies to support the student and community moving forward. Conducting an effective MDR is the first step.

Cole faced three separate suspensions, each preceded by an MDR where his mother was denied meaningful participation. It wasn’t until she secured legal representation through Legal Services NYC that Cole finally received proper consideration of his needs and a new evaluation to ensure appropriate support. He hasn’t been suspended since. 

Families need access to advocates who can help them navigate the complex special education and discipline systems and protect their child’s right to a meaningful education. Every time a student with disabilities may be removed from the classroom for an extended period, New York City should both inform families that they have a legal right to an advocate during an MDR and help connect them to one. 

A disciplinary removal represents a critical turning point in a student’s education, especially for those with disabilities. With proper advocacy, this moment can become an opportunity to reinvest in our most at-risk students rather than a step toward disengagement and dropout. 

As city leaders push for new laws to address the youth mental health crisis, we must include MDR reforms in these efforts. By providing families with advocates during disciplinary proceedings, we can create lasting relationships between education advocates and families, ensuring students with disabilities receive the support they need as they move through their educational journey. Not only that, but reducing disruptive behavior benefits all students, and their teachers as well.

Our students deserve a system that protects their right to learn and, what’s more, the law requires it.  

Councilmember Rita Joseph represents District 40 in Brooklyn and serves as chair of the Education Committee. Michaela Shuchman is a Skadden Fellow at Legal Services NYC in the Bronx, fighting to reform exclusionary discipline practices in NYC schools.