Realizing their full potential is difficult for some of the city’s more than 1 million students when fears of violence are on their minds. Every year, school safety agents confiscate hundreds of deadly weapons, including guns and knives.
And that is at schools that have metal detectors, which are less than 10 percent of the total, according to school safety union head Gregory Floyd.
“What worries me the most is we do not know what the children are bringing in to the schools. We don’t know which children are being bullied, which children are bringing in weapons, we have no clue,” Floyd said. “And this always leads to disastrous consequences.”
The stabbing death of a student in a Bronx high school last year highlighted the problem. It was the first murder in a school in 15 years. The school does not have metal detectors, despite the requests of staff and parents.
Parent and educator Shakima Davis said that installing modern video surveillance and metal detectors in all schools should be mandatory.
“Sometimes people snap so you never really know where that person’s mindset is at,” She said. “So I just feel it’s always good to take those precautions so no matter what, it can alleviate any problems or any incidents happening.”
A Department of Education spokesperson told Street Soldiers: “The DOE is committed to fostering safe and supportive learning environments, and we work in lockstep with NYPD to ensure every school building is secure we take every necessary step to ensure the safety and preparedness of our school communities.”
In order to get an idea of what is going on system-wide, City Council Member Paul Vallone is pushing for a task force.
–LISA EVERS
FEATURED CAST: LISA EVERS, Host and Executive Producer, Street Soldiers https://twitter.com/lisaevers
STATE SEN. JESSE HAMILTON, D-Brooklyn, Ranking Member, Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business Committee https://twitter.com/SenatorHamilton
SHAKIMA DAVIS, Parent and Educator
GREGORY FLOYD, President, Teamsters Local237 https://twitter.com/teamsters237
CITY COUNCILMEMBER PAUL VALLONE, D-Queens, Chair, Economic Development Committee https://twitter.com/PaulVallone