Clear data on New York City school safety is nowhere to be found

There were three separate stabbings at New York City schools within three days this month. But parents would be hard pressed to find information on those incidents on the state website supposedly tracking school safety.

The state education department maintains a “School Safety and Educational Climate” database documenting the number of homicides, sexual offenses, assaults and weapons possession cases at city schools. The data hasn’t been updated since the 2021-22 school year – and is jarringly different from NYPD data about weapons recovered at schools.

The state database lists only felony-level weapons possession incidents. During the 2021-22 school year, there were 197 weapons possession charges at 1,853 schools, including charter schools, according to the database.

But internal NYPD data tracking weapons recovered by school safety officers tells a strikingly different story. According to the records from the School Safety Division obtained by Gothamist, cops recovered 970 weapons that school year at just 10 schools.

The discrepancy between the state and NYPD data highlights a reality for parents curious about safety at their kids' schools: There is no comprehensive, comprehensible or regularly updated database on the issue.

The NYPD data titled “Top 10 sites weapons recovered” shows that officers found 159 weapons at the High School of Fashion Industries in Chelsea in the 2021-22 school year – the most of any school. But the state education department data covering the same period shows zero weapons possession cases at the school.

The NYPD recorded 113 weapons found at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens, during the 2021-22 school year – the third-most of any school. Meanwhile, state education department data notes only one weapon possession case at the school.

Three of the “educational campuses” listed in the NYPD data for most weapons seized are not named in the state education department data at all. Educational campuses are typically large school buildings that house multiple schools.

State education data lists a total of 197 weapons possession cases at 1,853 schools, including charters. But according to the NYPD data, there were 970 weapons found at just 10 schools.

The state education department referred questions about the discrepancy to the city Department of Education, adding that individual schools are responsible for submitting data for the state database. The education department referred questions to the NYPD, which runs the city’s school safety division. The NYPD then pointed to a separate public database filled with police jargon.

Johanna Miller, an education policy expert at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the NYPD and state use different definitions of “weapons.”

“There's a mismatch between state data and NYPD data,” she said. “We are deeply disturbed and have been fighting for many years to make school safety data more transparent.”

Parents have also been clamoring for more information.

“There should be a public database updated weekly by NYPD or by the Department of Education that shows the incidents happening at schools, the number of weapons being found,” said Mona Davids, founder of the New York City School Safety Coalition. “Parents should know what the safety status is when it comes to each and every school.”

The city education department offered a blanket statement: “We work everyday to make our schools safe havens for our young people, filled with caring and affirming adults and peers,” said spokesperson Jenna Lyle. Department officials did not directly address questions about the differences between the NYPD data and state data. They said violent incidents have decreased under Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.

To back up the claim, the city pointed to the NYPD data obtained by Gothamist, which is not public. It showed that violent crimes at the 10 “most active” schools were down from 91 in the 2021-2022 school year to 83 in the 2022-2023 school year. Weapons recovered from the most “active sites” declined from 976 to 826 over those two years, as well. But the data did not include information covering the entire public school system.

The public NYPD site with school safety data doesn’t offer much clarity. The site doesn’t have a tally of weapons recovered by police. The database uses so much police jargon – like “PINS Warrant,” “mitigated” and “restraints” – that it requires a key to decipher. Even if one uses the key, there’s no way to divine the nature of the incident that took place.

“If I was a parent with school-age kids in New York City, I would demand to know what’s going on,” said Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, the union that represents school safety agents.

The NYPD’s broad definition of what constitutes a weapon only adds to the confusion, Miller said.

“You wouldn't believe how often we get a call from a kid who was stopped at a metal detector because they had a keychain, a piece of silverware in their lunch box, hygiene products, metal cans of deodorant, bobby pins, combs,” Miller said.

“We had a student who was given a keychain from his school as an award for perfect attendance and it was like a decorative metal keychain and the NYPD confiscated it at a metal detector called it a weapon.”

On its website, the state education department says it publishes the school safety data to comply with the 2010 Dignity for All Students Act, which aimed to help education officials identify "persistently dangerous" schools.

Henry Rubio, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, which represents principals, said that his members are responsible for reporting an array of data on school safety to the city education department. The city education department then sends certain information to the state, he said.

“We just report to the city, what they do with the data is on them,” Rubio said, adding that it was highly unlikely a principal would report inaccurate information because the professional consequences are severe.

In 2014, the Daily News reviewed the same database and noted that 1,378 city schools reported zero incidents of bullying or harassment. That revelation came after a 14-year-old at I.S. 117 in the Bronx was accused of fatally stabbing a classmate who had been bullying him.

The mayor, who is a former police officer, and Schools Chancellor David Banks, who once worked as a school safety agent, have said repeatedly that school safety is a top priority.

As students returned to in-person learning in fall 2021, educators said they saw fights spike. The Adams administration said more weapons were being collected from students who fear for their safety, particularly when commuting to and from school.

Last year, the Adams administration launched a school safety initiative called Project Pivot, hiring violence interrupters and mentors to work in violence-prone schools. Principals were told to participate in weekly calls with NYPD precinct commanders. The city also started installing new locks on schools’ front doors.