NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — As the nation's largest school district prepares to return to the classroom on Thursday, Schools Chancellor David Banks said Wednesday that the district is prioritizing school safety by hiring hundreds of school safety agents along with other measures.
Banks stopped by Martin Van Buren High School in Queens with a back-to-school message: "So students and families, [it] is that we take your physical and emotional safety seriously and that this will be a primary focus for us this school year."
He said that over the summer, educators from all grade levels, including preschool, underwent active shooter drill training.
"That is the reality that we are facing," the chancellor said. "We have seen these unfortunate incidents take place all across the nation, so we can't put our heads in the sand."
Following the seizure of 6,000 weapons in city schools last year, the district has hired over 200 school safety agents who will be on duty on the first day of classes. They will be joined by 650 more during the school year.
This is a boost for the city, which already has the largest proportion of school safety agents in the nation, Gothamist reported. About 4,450 school safety agents have been employed, according to the latest NYPD figures, roughly one for every 230 kids.
A hundred social workers are also being moved from Department of Education headquarters and into schools.
Along with the increase in school safety agents, the DOE has committed:
• Increased Real-Time Family Push Communications: As announced earlier this year, beginning this school year, principals will now have access to the Grades, Attendance and Messaging platforms, which will allow schools to communicate with staff and families in multiple languages in real-time regarding updates to the school, closings, and in the case of an emergency, including providing timely updates regarding lockdowns, shelter-ins, or evacuations.
• A comprehensive city-wide safety assessment: The Division of School Facilities conducted a survey of 1,400 buildings to assess the functionality of classroom door locksets, exterior door locks, intrusion alarms, office door locksets, panic buttons, door alarms, and public address (PA) systems. They identified 1,300 issues across all schools and is working to address every one by the first day of school.
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The assessment alludes to the tragic elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and three adults.
In a press release Wednesday, Banks said "our families' biggest concerns should be on the studies of their children, which is why we are doubling down on this work to take concerns about safety out of the equation."
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