Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks of New York City have pledged to look at a variety of solutions to increase school safety, including barring all entrances to public schools, deploying scanners to detect firearms, and hiring additional school safety officers.
According to Banks, union officials will gather next week to discuss “every aspect of what we do in our New York City schools” during a news conference on Wednesday. “And we’re going to come up with some of the best ideas that we can we’re going to engage parents we’re going to ask our students themselves, what are the things that we need to be doing?” said Banks.
Public schools should lock their front doors and require visitors to punch a buzzer to be recognized before entering the facility, according to Mark F. Cannizzaro, the president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, who talked with him about this issue. “We all feel the necessity to do more at this time,” said Banks. “That’s part of the reason why we’re we’re here today, is to say that the ante has been raised here, and we’ve got to do more. And that’s why we’re talking about perhaps even just locking our doors once our students are in school, and making visitors have to stop and identify themselves before they come in.” As it is currently, you don’t have to do that—the buildings are still open. There is a school safety officer on duty, and they may stop anybody who intends to hurt themselves.
In addition to metal detectors, officials say they’re looking at less intrusive options including scanners that don’t need single-file lines and can identify firearms. Using a metal detector, Adams stated, requires users to place goods on a belt and walk through one at a time. Adams
There was no mention of such in the mayor’s remarks. When five individuals pass through a gate at the same moment, a scanner can tell which one of them has a gun. “We’re looking at the ability of a number of people walking through, not having to stop,” says a researcher.
There will be an increase in school safety officers, as well, according to the mayor. Additionally, Adams confirmed on Wednesday that the New York Police Department (NYPD) would retain control of the city’s 4,000 school safety agents, as opposed to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s intention to place them under the direction of the Department of Education’s coordination (DOE). “We have some of the best school safety ages apparatus combined with our police department. That is why I went against the thought of taking school safety from the police. And I’m not going to do that. They’re going to stay in coordination with the police department,” said Adams. “We’re going to make sure when we sit down with the chancellor to find out to get to the numbers that we need, that he feels comfortable enough that we have the right coverage throughout the city is important in this case is showing that but the goal is to stop the guns from coming into the school, and make sure our children are safe, get into school.”
School safety agents would do more surprise spot inspections in high-crime areas, including as neighborhoods with a history of mass shootings and other gun-related crimes, he said. R-South Shore Assemblyman Michael Reilly and R-East Shore/Brooklyn Assemblyman Michael Tannousis sent a letter to Adams and Banks on Wednesday morning urging them to consider enforcing an external door lock policy at city public schools during the school day. Reilly and Tannousis noted that the tragedy at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, caused city authorities to once again turn emphasis to the safety and security of kids and employees in schools around New York — particularly in the five boroughs, where there has been a steep spike in gun violence and a larger number of incidents recorded in schools.
All outside facing ports of entrance at New York City public schools for the course of the school day are requested to be examined by your offices, the assemblymen wrote, “with the greatest respect.” While schools stay open, they’ll have an extra degree of protection since school safety agents will be able to inspect anybody who try to enter the premises.
As a precautionary measure, the assemblymen indicated that first responders might circumvent the lock and enter the premises in the event of an emergency. A permanent school scanner has been proposed before, but this is the first time it has been put into practice. After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, the topic of school security shifted to whether or not the main entrances to the city’s public schools should be closed.
Some Staten Island private and parochial schools have already implemented buzzer-entry systems to identify visitors before granting admission to the facility. There is a price to pay, though. The Advance/SILive.com reported that several Staten Island instructors believed that just shutting the front doors would not be enough to keep the school community safe.
The hazards to a school community often originate from inside the school population, said one teacher who requested anonymity.
All doors in school buildings are now closed and alarmed, save for the main door, per current DOE policy. Public schools in New York City should not have its front doors locked, according to a previous government led by former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The DOE previously said that every school’s main entrance is always monitored. Whenever a safety agent is unavailable for whatever reason, another safety agent or a selected member of the staff might step in to cover for them.
Visitor Control Procedures in school safety plans include, but are not limited to, stopping at the security desk and showing a valid form of identification in order to be signed into the facility, according to the Department of Education. The Office of Safety and Youth Development and the New York City Police Department have authorized each proposal. In order to protect everyone on campus, the details of any emergency response plans or processes must be kept under wraps.
Scanners are now being utilized at public schools on a full-time or part-time basis, depending on when the school is in use. This implies that pupils will be subjected to metal scanning scanners, similar to those used to check airline passengers, in order to look for weapons throughout their time at school.
Several things mentioned in the Discipline Code or the Citywide Behavioral Expectations to Support Student Learning are forbidden from being brought to school by kids. There are several types of sharp metal devices that may be confiscated including but not limited to guns, imitation weapons, loaded or blank ammunition, blades, knives, and other similar objects. Disciplinary sanctions may be taken against students who bring these objects to school.
