Continuing a downward trend, the number of students suspended in New York City fell by nearly 17 percent last school year. Arrests by school safety officers also dropped, by 27 percent. 

In February, education officials revised its discipline code to make it harder for principals to suspend students for minor infractions that fall under "insubordination," such as cursing. The city also began providing more guidance on how to de-escalate conflict and evaluate school climate. 

"By providing more support to students and training for teachers and working closely with school safety officers, we are making real progress," said Chancellor Carmen Fariña, in a statement. "While we have taken important steps in the right direction, reducing the need for suspensions and keeping our schools safe remains one of my top priorities — particularly for our black and Hispanic students and our students with special needs – and  we are working tirelessly toward that end.”

Although student suspensions were down overall, the proportion of black and Latino students suspended remained 87 percent, the same as the previous year. These racial groups combined made up 68 percent of the total student population last school year.

Students with disabilities also are suspended at disproportionately higher rates: last year they made up 38 percent of suspended students, but accounted for just under 20 percent of the student population. 

"Our hope was that by reducing suspensions for insubordination we could reduce the racial disparities, and also the disparities for kids who have disabilities," said Kim Sweet, executive director of the non-profit group Advocates for Children. "Apparently there's still a lot more work to be done in that area."

For the 2014-15 school year, there were 44,626 suspensions overall; for the 2011-12 school year, there were 69,643 suspensions.