Six NYC schools where 100% of teachers say students bully each other
The question
Which New York City schools have unanimous teacher agreement that students bully each other — and what kinds of schools end up there?
Six New York City schools had every teacher who responded to the 2023-24 city school survey answer 'yes' to the question of whether students bully other students. The list spans challenge groups 3 through 9, admission types (zoned, open application, screened), and three boroughs. Two of the six schools are screened — Mott Hall III in the Bronx (challenge group 5) and Dock Street School for STEAM in Brooklyn (challenge group 3) — which complicates the conventional wisdom that screening produces calmer peer groups. Sample sizes are a real caveat: '100% of 5 teachers' isn't the same as '100% of 30.'
Data analysis
Investigation run 2026-05-31.
TL;DR
Six New York City schools had every teacher who responded to the 2023-24 survey agree that students bully other students. The list spans challenge groups 3 through 9, admission types (zoned, open application, screened), and three boroughs. Screened schools (Mott Hall III, Dock Street STEAM) appearing here is the noteworthy part — selective admission doesn't rule out a bullying culture.
The 6 schools at 100% teacher-reported bullying (2023-24)
| School | Borough | Challenge group | Admission |
|---|---|---|---|
| P.S. 43 Queens | Queens | 9 | Zoned |
| North Queens Community HS | Queens | — | Other |
| City Knoll Middle School | Manhattan | — | Open |
| P.S. 183 Dr. Richard R. Green | Queens | 9 | Zoned |
| Mott Hall III | Bronx | 5 | Screened |
| Dock Street School for STEAM Studies | Brooklyn | 3 | Screened |
Why this is interesting
Two of the six schools are screened — admitted by grades and attendance. The common assumption is that screened schools have less peer conflict because they select on motivation. Dock Street (challenge group 3, screened admission) reporting 100% teacher-perceived bullying is inconsistent with that assumption. Selection alone doesn't rule out bullying.
Caveat: small samples can be misleading
100% can mean '5 teachers all agreed.' The number of responding teachers per school per question is in our data, but the bullying question typically draws 10 to 30 responses at middle-school-sized schools. P.S. 43 Queens at 100% with a small sample could be noise; Dock Street with a slightly larger sample is more meaningful.
How common is high-bullying reporting?
Across the roughly 1,610 schools where teachers answered the bullying question in 2023-24, the citywide average response is 43% — about 4 of 10 teachers agreeing that students bully each other. Schools above 80% are in the top tenth of the bullying-reporting distribution. The 5 schools above 95% are worth specific attention.
What's next
Visit Mott Hall III and Dock Street STEAM. Talk to the New York State Education Department about whether the state's school-safety incident reports corroborate the teacher perceptions.
Methodology & replication recipe — the data sources, queries, and steps behind this analysis.
More on specific schools
- The Brooklyn New School lost 52 points of math proficiency in six years
- Bronx Aerospace High School cut chronic absenteeism by 34 points. How?
- The Anderson School scores at the ceiling — and proves nothing
- Two MS within a half-mile: one screens, one zones. Same neighborhood, different futures.
- When the principal leaves, scores fall — but not always