At a hearing of the Education Committee of the NYC Council, President Gregory Floyd, presented a compelling case that proposed legislation to remove the Agents from public schools is wrong, phony, and does not do what is needed.
Testimony of Teamster Local 237 President Gregory Floyd
New York City Council Education Committee February 18, 2021
Hearing on proposed legislation related to public school safety and security.
288 - That’s the number of major crimes in public schools, ranging from rape to grand larceny for 2019 to 2020.
976 - That’s the number of other crimes for the same period ranging from assault to petit larceny.
Some could say, WOW! that’s an improvement from the previous year, in which the numbers were even higher.
I’d say, NO, this is no improvement.
It’s just the result of the Mayor’s “new math” on what constitutes a crime in our public schools.
And that’s where the problem begins:
This Administration has changed the definition of crime in public schools, so fewer incidents are reported, thereby giving the public a false picture of how really dangerous many schools are.
Parents, beware!
Your children are not safe.
And, they will be even less safe with the City Council’s proposed legislation.
This legislation is filled with misinformation.
For example: School Safety Agents DO NOT carry weapons.
On just the first day of school in 2018, School Safety Agents confiscated:
- 9 knives
- 4 box cutters
- 3 razors
- broke up a hair-pick stabbing and evacuated two schools that received bomb threats.
That was only Day 1.
In fact, between 2018 and 2019, 2,701 weapons were confiscated by School Safety Agents.
We have all read the headlines:
- “8-Year-Old Brings Loaded 380 Caliber Gun Into Classroom at PS 91”
- “11-Year-Old 5th Grader Brings Loaded Semi-Automatic Into PS 40”
- “14-Year-Old Has Loaded Smith and Wesson In Backpack”
- “16-Year-Old Student Brings Loaded 22-Caliber Gun into John Adams High School”
And, how could we ever forget the bullying that led to a fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old student at the Urban Assembly for Wildlife Management?
This was a tragedy that left one life lost. and another, ruined.
30 parents immediately requested a transfer of their children.
And with only 55% of the students, and 19% of the teachers saying they felt safe there, the school closed down.
Over the years, School Safety Agents have been both hero and victim in countless ways.
But to name just a few:
They led students to safety from a terrorist attack at Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan.
They saved a student from a vicious stabbing attack by four rival gang members outside of PS 35.
It was a School Safety Agent whose quick response to an Amber Alert saved a Staten Island youngster from being kidnapped.
School Safety Agents are the mentors of the Explorer Program, for local students who are interested in careers in law enforcement.
And School Safety Agents are also the driving force behind so many community outreach programs, where they give their own time and often their own money for so many worthy causes, like:
- Free Back-to-School backpacks filled with notebooks and pencils.
- Toy for Tots collections at Christmas time.
- Providing turkey dinners for homeless families, knowing that 1 in 10 students live in shelters.
- With breast cancer being highest among Black women, wearing pink throughout October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
- Providing free Prom gowns and make-up advice for High School Seniors.
- School Safety Agents do these things, and so much more.
But School Safety Agents have also been the victims of physical and verbal attacks by both students and parents. Some Agents were left with broken arms, broken fingers, a torn eye socket and other assorted bruises.
My concern here today is two-fold:
For the 5,038 School Safety Agents, 70% of whom are women, mostly Black and Latinas, many single-parents from the local community whose livelihood is in jeopardy,
-AND for the 1million school children whose lives are in DANGER.
I cannot understand the logic!
With so much chaos in the world…
At a time when racism and social injustice have reached a boiling point in our own country….
At a time when so many of our government leaders, our healthcare professionals, and even our next door neighbors, have failed us, disappointed us, misled us, betrayed us.
Why do some people think the solution lies in a knee-jerk, politically correct reaction that ultimately harms the very population they want to protect?
School Safety Agents are NOT a part of a supposed “pipeline to prison”.
It’s quite the opposite.
They don’t help to create criminals, they help to protect children from them.
They wear a uniform as a beacon; a sign of authority to let students know who to run to in a time of need, and for the potential troublemakers, who to fear.
Legislation to take School Safety Agents out of public schools is wrong.
It is phony.
It does not do what is needed.
I urge all Council Members to talk to parents…talk to the students, talk to the teachers, and spend some time in a public school.
What you’ll find is that learning cannot take place if you don’t feel safe.
All parents throughout our City want one thing: They need to know that when they drop off little Johnny or Janie at the beginning of the school day, that they return home the same way they started the day----safely.
And I ask parents: If an active shooter were to enter your child’s school…who is on the scene to protect them?
Removing School Safety Agents from a child’s safety net encourages criminal behavior. With no one watching, it will embolden troublemakers.
And that could cost lives. Your child’s life.
I urge the City Council to reconsider the proposed legislation.
This issue begs us to confront reality and decide what we really care about.
Parkland
Sandy Hook
They’re not some far-away, made up places!
Those tragedies could easily happen here.
And if there’s an active shooter at one of our schools and a child gets killed, what to do you tell the parents?
Do you say, we didn’t want the school to look like a prison?
And what do you do?
I know the answer.
That’s because, each time there were school shootings, our phones were flooded with frantic calls from elected officials, including calls from some of you.
Everyone wants to know: Are our schools really safe? Are our school children well protected?
I know the answer.
Think about it. Do you?
So, save everyone the grief.
School Safety Agents make a difference.
Thank you.
