NYC Schools Replaced Discipline With Therapy. It's Blowing Up In Their Faces

New York City recorded 9,193 suspensions between July and December 2025, an 8.3% decline from the same period a year earlier. Serious assaults increased to 109 from 103. Superintendent’s suspensions fell 21.6%, dropping to 1,608 from 2,052. New York Police Department data showed felony assault arrests involving people under 21 during school hours rose to 34 from 28. Restorative justice replaced traditional discipline methods such as detention, suspensions, and removals. After an altercation, the student, the harmed classmate, and an adult facilitator meet in a circle and follow a prescribed set of questions about what happened, who was hurt, and how the wrongdoer can make things right. The guided talk functions as the punishment. The city invested about $97 million in the policy from 2015 to 2024, and other districts later adopted the model.

"City schools recorded 9,193 suspensions between July and December 2025, an 8.3% decline from the same stretch a year earlier, while serious assaults rose to 109 from 103, the New York Post (NYP) reported. The toughest penalty, known as a superintendent's suspension, dropped 21.6%, falling to 1,608 from 2,052, according to Department of Education data."

"Following an altercation, the school brings the offending student, the classmate he harmed and an adult facilitator together in a circle, according to Weber's Washington Post piece. The facilitator leads them through a prescribed list of questions covering what happened, who got hurt and how the wrongdoer can set things right. The talk itself becomes the punishment."

"Weber tied the divide to restorative justice, the city's favored answer to misconduct, which trades punishment for a guided talk among the offender, the victim and a staff facilitator. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: School Violence Prevention Fund Being Used To 'Welcome' Violent Immigrant Children)"

"From 2015-24, New York City invested an estimated $97 million in a new disciplinary policy. Schools replaced traditional methods-detention, suspensions, removals-with a policy called Restorative Justice. NYC's new model spread across districts nationwide. But did it work? - Manhattan Institute (@ManhattanInst) July 2"

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