Last year Mayor de Blasio issued mandates making it harder for schools to suspend students. Staten Island apparently didn’t get the memo.
Three Staten Island high schools led the city in the number of suspended students in the 2014-15 school year, records show. While suspensions in city schools declined overall, they surged at those three schools.
Susan Wagner HS was the strictest school in the city, giving out 633 suspensions, up from 499 the year before.
No. 2 in the city was Tottenville HS, where suspensions skyrocketed from 181 to 369.
New Dorp HS was fourth in the city, with 276 suspensions last school year, up from 226 the year before, according to Department of Education records obtained by The Post through the Freedom of Information Law.
Mayor de Blasio announced changes to the city’s school disciplinary code in February 2015 requiring principals to get permission from DOE leaders before suspending students for acts of insubordination, limiting suspensions for minor fights, and mandating no suspensions for students between kindergarten and third grade.
As a result, suspensions by principals or superintendents dropped 17 percent citywide from 53,504 in 2013-14 to 44,626 last school year.
But in apparent disobedience to Hizzoner, nearly one out of four suspensions at Wagner and New Dorp, and one out of three suspensions at Tottenville, were for insubordination, the records show.
Wagner’s longtime principal, Gary Giordano, punished students for insubordination 145 times, more than suspensions for making threats (121) or fighting (104).
City education officials dismissed the upward trend and said the number of penalties are in line with the schools’ large enrollments.
Some observers said the numbers show that school leaders on Staten Island were willing to buck City Hall in dealing with disruptive incidents.
‘[Principals] not afraid to use suspensions as a tool…They want what’s best for the children’
- Miguel Rodriguez, Staten Island Federation of PTAs president
“They’re not afraid to use suspensions as a tool,” said Staten Island Federation of PTAs president Miguel Rodriguez. “I’ve seen them in action. They’re very strong leaders. They want what’s best for the children.”
A hazing incident involving BB guns at an upstate football camp in the summer led to at least five suspensions at Susan Wagner, the Staten Island Advance reported.
Giordano did not return calls or e-mails, but two school sources said his discipline philosophy is simple and has parental support: Suspend students for smaller infractions before they turn into more serious ones.
A student can be suspended for one to five days under a “principal’s suspension,” or from six days to a year under a “superintendent’s suspension.” Suspended students in most cases are ordered to report to a school classroom or an alternate DOE site.
Tottenville’s new principal, Joseph Scarmato, told students he would enforce a controversial dress code after they showed up to class in September in skimpy outfits. When the Tottenville teens continued to bare their midriffs and show off their short shorts, Scarmato handed out 200 detentions. More penalties followed.
New Dorp’s principal was even stricter.
More than 80 percent of suspensions by principal Deirdre DeAngelis Dales were for five days or longer. The school led the city in the number of suspensions for weapons, with most of the 24 incidents involving boxcutters, records show.
“The numbers may be up because they don’t sweep things under the carpet,” said New Dorp parent Laura Timoney. “They report everything.”