Chalkbeat | Lengthy suspensions have recently drawn increased scrutiny. Legal Services NYC, a public interest group, filed a lawsuit in May alleging the city uses an inappropriately low standard of proof in suspension hearings, violating the U.S. Constitution. (City officials have moved to dismiss the case.) Schools have also routinely suspended students with disabilities for longer than legally allowed by federal law, a Chalkbeat investigation found.

“There haven’t been any clear policy changes,” said Rohini Singh, the director of the school justice project at Advocates for Children, which helps families to navigate the suspension process. “Certainly, we’re happy to see that the overall number of suspensions is decreasing.”

Still, Singh noted that troubling disparities persist.

Children living in foster care were at least four times as likely to be suspended as their peers, an uptick from last year, according to an analysis from the group Advocates for Children, which has pushed for reforms to school discipline policies.