Community service and trial by classmates are some of the plans for New York’s schools. Stephen Phillips reports

Violent and unruly pupils at New York schools could face community service or trial by their peers, as Michael Bloomberg, the city’s mayor, gets tough on classroom misbehaviour.

Last week Mr Bloomberg announced a joint venture between New York’s police, education department and criminal justice officials to improve classroom discipline, in one of his most radical acts since wresting control of the city’s 1,200 state schools from an elected board in June The Office of School Safety and Planning, headed by ex-policeman and law professor Benjamin Tucker, is charged with identifying schools with the worst crime rates and tackling truancy and disruptive behaviour.

The strategy, dubbed “SchoolSafe”, will involve naming the worst 10 per cent of schools, which account for more than one-third of all reported school crime. The proportion of pupils meeting minimum academic standards in these schools is 16 per cent below average and the drop-out rate is worryingly high.

“Students and teachers coming into our schools must have a safe and orderly environment,” Mr Bloomberg said.

“Children cannot learn and teachers cannot teach if they are scared or intimidated.”

The unit will devise a graduated scale of punishment for miscreant pupils, Mr Bloomberg said. These could include forcing culprits to perform community service or removing them from classes.

“We are going to instil the discipline needed to teach and learn,” he said. Major crimes in New York schools rose by 6.6 per cent from July 2001 to March 2002, while reports of assaults, theft, sexual offences and bomb threats rose by 11 per cent.

But officials said last week they were already making progress, with criminal incidents declining by 16 per cent and gun confiscation more than halving over the past two years.

Other American cities are also invoking drastic measures to curb delinquency. Chicago, for instance, is launching a scheme under which students would be tried by a peer jury for arguing with a teacher or swearing.

But experts said draconian disciplinary measures could be counter-productive.

Disruptive behaviour is best handled by teaching young people conflict resolution techniques so they do not resort to violence, according to Russell Skiba, professor of educational psychology at Indiana University and co-director of the Safe and Responsive Schools Project.

“The rate of school violence has been relatively stable over the past 20 years,” he added. “Weapons, guns and gangs account for less than 5 per cent of disruptions.

“What has increased is fear of violence. But we have no evidence that punitive measures turned to by more and more schools have solved the problem,” Mr Skiba said.