Rising Discipline Problems in Schools: Another Sign of Pandemic’s Toll

New York City schools are grappling with a spike in discipline problems among children, evidence that the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic are having lingering effects, educators and experts say.

Most of the misconduct involves lower-level disturbances that educators and advocates say show that many students are still having a hard time emotionally after the stress of the pandemic.

Despite a handful of high-profile episodes — at least two students were slashed at Port Richmond High School in Staten Island this week, for example — student arrests account for a small percentage of discipline incidents, according to the Police Department.

Luis A. Rodriguez, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at New York University, said the increase was not necessarily surprising, given the isolation and stress students and their families experienced during the pandemic.

“Schools have had to reckon with the impact Covid has had on socializing,” he said.

At the High School of Fashion Industries in Manhattan, Rosa Isabel Chavez, a fashion design teacher, said that when schools reopened, students came back lacking “a high-school-level mentality.”

“They were very much still childlike,” she said. “We had freshmen still holding hands, the way little children do in elementary school, which was adorable, but still scary.”