The NYPD must remain in charge of school safety unless parents want mayhem to rule the halls of education, the head of the school safety agents’ union warned Wednesday.
Teamsters Local 237 president Greg Floyd said recent calls to put the city’s 5,036 unarmed safety agents under the authority of the Department of Education amounted to a recipe for disaster.
“I understand what’s going on in this country, however, you cannot have anarchy,” he said.
Floyd said he recalled how “crime was rampant in the schools” — with students “bringing in box cutters and knives” — before the NYPD was put in charge of school safety in December 1998 at the direction of then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Before that, the former Board of Education hired what were then known as “school safety officers,” many of whom were eventually found to be unfit for their jobs, Floyd said.
“We had gang members, we had sexual predators, we had people with criminal backgrounds who were not discovered until they were working there for 10 years or more,” he said.
Hundreds wound up assigned to empty classrooms where they awaited disciplinary hearings so they could be fired, Floyd said.
“When I was hired and went into those rooms in 1994, I saw some of the most unsavory people I had ever seen working for the city of New York,” he said.
“There was no exam. There were really no requirements.”
Since the NYPD took over and began hiring and employing the school safety agents, applicants must pass civil service exams, undergo background checks and receive training at the Police Academy, he said.
I find it quite arrogant for principals and people like Eva Moskowitz to want more power over the Safety Agents without even asking the school safety union and their rank and file. Get the Agents on board if you really want this to be a movement for working people.
Mayhem already does rule. Not the fault of the nypd.
ReplyDeleteIt would only get worse under DOE.
ReplyDeleteHow dare you want to ask the actual working people who are predominantly Black and Latinx. Leave it up to Eva and the principals. They have fucked so much else up so give them school safety to hide too. Principals can sweep even more under the rugs and Eva can conceal verbal assaults on kids, maybe even beatings. All in the name of defunding the police. Oh the irony that the woke left supports Eva having more power.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to strip Moscowitz of her stolen salary (stolen from tax money), evict her schools from our space that she occupies rent-free, and end the entire charter system by providing some upgraded public schools.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, teachers and parents - and yes principals, should have some say over who works in the building. And no, it should not be up to the police to decide.
How about the safety Agents having a say?
DeleteIf we put it to a secret ballot vote of the Safety Agents, how would it go? My guess is they would, as their union leader wanted, rather stay with NYPD.
DeleteDoesn't what the workers want count for something? Principals do not need more power. I recall an unstable principal who went through safety officers like they were nothing back when they were under direct control of principals.
Checks on principal authority are necessary.
I foresee a crimewave.
ReplyDelete"retraining them as school peace officers with a focus on de-escalation, mediation, and restorative practices" requires taking them out of PD.
ReplyDeleteIt's not about more power for the principals. It's about removing PD from a place they do not belong.
So why you don't go and risk your life like we do everyday breaking fight and taking weapon from gang members with just a flashlight
DeleteRetraining them to sweep all incidents under the carpet is what would happen. Many principals unfortunately cannot be trusted to do more than protect their fiefdoms and power. They need checks. It is the DOE. At least the UFT is siding with the Agents and their union as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteThis is not an issue. Everyone knows schools are safer under NYPD. It is the woke left along with Eva Moskowitz and some power hungry principals vs the sane world. That's why I am worried.
ReplyDeleteJust because the PD isn't in charge of School Safety doesn't mean that principals have to be in charge. School Safety can be re-imagined, with input from students, parents and teachers.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but the union head's remarks are typical of the scare tactics that law enforcement usually uses to stop a debate. I agree that a union leader needs to defend their members, but that way is not effective anymore.
It would move to the Office of School Safety and Youth Development 4:50. If you think that will be a positive development, please show us where they have worked with teachers, parents and students to improve anything. It is DOE bureaucracy. Be careful what you wish for.
ReplyDeleteI've never worked with the OSSYD, so I can't comment in that. A school out side the DOE was the best school I worked at where the staff, especially the security staff had positive relationships with the students. No matter what, you knew that the staff was working for the best interests of the students.
ReplyDeleteYou said the key words: "outside the DOE." The DOE is not basically and never was interested in "the best interests of the students."
ReplyDelete