NYC Public Schools See 16K Corporal Punishment Complaints: Report

NEW YORK CITY — An educational watchdog group received more than 16,000 complaints of corporal punishment in New York City public schools over a five-year span, according to a new report.

State records show 1,271 of the 16,671 complaints made to the Department of Education's Office of Special Investigations between January 2016 and June 2021, according to the Times Union's thorough investigation on corporal punishment in New York State.

Complaints from the city's public school system — the nation's largest with more than 1 million students — made up the bulk of nearly 18,000 corporal punishment complaints filed across the state, the report found.

A city Education spokesperson told the Times Union her department was diligent about discouraging and investigating corporal punishment.

"Corporal punishment is unequivocally prohibited in all NYC public schools, and we take every complaint seriously to ensure that a full and complete investigation is done," Jenna Lyle reportedly said.

"If there is a substantiated case, we take immediate corrective action and strengthen our prevention efforts."

New York City's records did not include information on any outcomes employees faced, the report notes.

The Times Union report arrived after another disturbing investigation into the state of city schools from the New York Times. The Times' report on city Yeshivas notes, "The schools do not provide an adequate education and that teachers regularly use corporal punishment."

Corporal punishment is defined by state law as any act of physical force meant to punish a pupil.

The Times Union report includes an example from the Achievement First Brownsville Charter School, where a teacher — who no longer works at the school — was accused of forcing a student to hold books.

Other complaints received by the state include "incidents where teachers or other staff members pushed, slapped, hit, pinched, spanked, dragged, choked or forcefully grabbed students," the report notes.

The Times Union report notes two Brooklyn Democrats — State Sen. Julia Salazar and Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher — are developing legislation to clarify corporal punishment's prohibition in all city schools.

It also includes national data that show Black students face corporal punishment at a disproportionate rate.

Nearly 40 percent of students from kindergarten through grade 12 who received corporal punishment from 2017 to 2018 were Black, the report notes. But Black students accounted for just 15 percent of enrollment.

Read the complete Times Union report on its statewide findings here.

Update: This story was updated about 2:30 p.m. Monday to include the employment status of the Achievement First Brownsville Charter School teacher who faced a corporal punishment complaint.