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Calls to remove uniformed safety agents from NYC public schools
A coalition of parents, students, educators, and mental health providers and advocates say they want school safety agents out of New York City's public schools.
NEW YORK - Mayra Perez-Hill is a parent & NYC school community coordinator who says "an across the board change” is needed in New York City's public schools. Perez-Hill is part of a coalition of parents, students, educators, mental health providers, and advocates that wants school safety agents out of the city's public schools.
The safety officers are supervised and trained by the NYPD but their salaries are paid through the city Department of Education's budget.
Instead, the group wants the safety officers replaced with a community member, saying schools should be a place of healing and support for students.
“Schools employ responses that further traumatize students, criminalizes them,” said Katrina Feldkamo of Bronx Legal Services.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea has said he "is open to giving up some of the ancillary functions the NYPD has taken on over the years, such as school safety."
Ray Domanico, the director of education policy with the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, is critical of the idea.
"A community member would still need training, we'd need to make sure they're professional, we'd need to make sure they're safe to be around children and I don't understand what the difference would be between what we have now and that," Domanico said.
The coalition also wants metal detectors removed. Currently, about 6 percent of city public middle and high schools have metal detectors. According to the Department of Education, in the 2018/2019 school year, nearly 1,700 knives were taken from students.
"Unfortunately, due to gang activity and other things in a small number of our neighborhoods, they are a necessary deterrent," Domanico said.
The coalition is asking each school to develop a healing approach to dealing with troubled students instead of suspending them to "get them out of the way."
The Department of Education issued this statement saying, in part, “We know that school cultures based on punitive discipline don’t actually help students, and we’ve instead invested in social-emotional learning, restorative practices for students and staff, trauma-informed practices, and mental health services. Since 2013-14 suspensions dropped 38.7% and arrests in schools dropped 60%. we thank this group for raising their voice and look forward to a continued conversation.”