CityAndStateNY.com
August 30, 2021
Defining ‘safety’ in schools
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T WAS A CLOUDY morning in mid-August, as New York City student activists gathered in Carl Schurz Park near Gracie Mansion to call for something that has been hotly debated for years: police-free schools. They said they want an education system that prioritizes mental health care and restorative justice over punitive practices. Around 25 students, many of whom are organizers with the New York Civil Liber-
New York City is moving “school safety agents” out of the NYPD by 2022. Will that satisfy students who say the agents’ presence doesn’t make them feel safe?
ties Union’s Teen Activist Project, shared experiences they’ve had with the school safety agents in their schools. Jonathan Rampagoa, a student at Bard High School Early College Queens, said he was questioned by school police a few years ago when he was in middle school. He had a pair of scissors in his bag he’d intended to use for an art project. After the scissors triggered the metal detector at the entrance of his middle school, Rampagoa said “a couple police officers put me in the corner and started questioning me with
the intention I was up to no good.” He said only after he was asked to call his art teacher to confirm the intended use of the scissors and answer the principal’s questions was he allowed to go to class – 30 minutes after first period started. Others talked about the role police have played in breaking up fights between students. “When fights break out in schools, police are the first called, but what about guidance counselors and social workers? What about
SAHALIE DONALDSON
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