Worried NYC Parents: It Takes a Village to Combat Violence in Public Schools, and Our Village is Failing
Queens, New York
Parents in Queens are calling for collaboration between their neighbors and city education officials to ensure the safety of schools, following two incidents where students were found carrying firearms just blocks away from each other within a three-day span.
On March 15, school officials at P.S. 40 discovered a loaded Hi-Point 9-millimeter pistol in the backpack of a fifth-grader, according to the New York Times. The grandfather of the boy, who owns the gun, was charged by the police. A couple of days later, a 15-year-old boy at York Early College Academy was arrested after being found in possession of a loaded .38-caliber revolver, as reported by the Times.
Additionally, on March 22, another student brought a gun and two partially loaded magazines to a middle school in Brooklyn.
These consecutive incidents, occurring within a two-week period, have raised concerns among parents and community leaders in the Jamaica neighborhood of southeast Queens. During a special meeting of the District 28 Community Education Council, several individuals emphasized the need for more action to ensure school safety.
President of the Council, Olga Addison, highlighted the importance of addressing the factors that may lead students to bring loaded guns to school, such as the child’s home life, neighborhood, or learning environment. She urged the community to focus attention on understanding and addressing these issues.
Parents and community leaders expressed their belief that bullying and harassment among students, as well as staff-on-student incidents, contribute to a sense of diminished safety and security in schools. They stressed that these pressures are exacerbated by poverty, homelessness, and low self-esteem, particularly affecting black and Latino boys.
Venus Ketcham, a concerned parent, worried about the possibility of her son having a negative encounter with a troubled child in possession of a gun. She pleaded for the district to come together and take action to protect their children.
Speculation arose among some parents that the student who brought a gun to York Early College Academy may have been a victim of harassment during his commute to and from school. They suggested that the gun might have been carried as a misguided attempt at self-defense.
While many parents acknowledged the satisfactory response of Queens school officials to the two incidents, they raised concerns about the prevalence of bullying across District 28 and the wider city. They raised issues of students not knowing who to turn to or misunderstanding the definition of bullying. Furthermore, they claimed that reports made by parents or students often go ignored. They argued that allowing these problems to persist increases the likelihood of potentially tragic incidents like those witnessed recently.
"These are matters that we must urgently address as a community and a city," one concerned parent expressed.
Allison Bell, another parent, called for a review of the education officials’ practice of removing the victim rather than addressing the perpetrators. Her daughter had been bullied at another school before transferring to York Early College Academy, where she felt victimized again.
The Department of Education representatives present at the meeting listened to the concerns raised by parents throughout the lengthy two-and-a-half-hour session. Mark Rampersant, the department’s deputy CEO for safety and security, assured parents that every school is expected to have an adult liaison available for students to turn to in case of problems. He encouraged parents to directly contact him if they were not receiving a response from their local school administration.
New York State Senator Leroy Comrie, representing Jamaica and other neighborhoods in southeastern Queens, demanded greater transparency in reporting school safety incidents. He stressed the importance of readily available statistics to help lawmakers advocate for increased resources to improve school safety and climate in Albany.
"This is a matter of utmost importance that needs to be addressed by our community and city. The Board of Education must stop concealing the statistics," Comrie stated, receiving applause.
During the 2014-15 academic year, both district and charter schools in New York City reported over 15,000 instances of violent and disruptive behavior to the state. This marked an increase of nearly 23 percent compared to the 12,978 incidents reported in the previous school year, as reported by WNYC on February 18. The reported incidents included cases of assault, robbery, arson, sex offenses, and weapons possession.
Families for Excellent Schools (FES) has accused the city of providing an inaccurate portrayal of the situation, despite the significant rise in safety incidents reported at the state level. FES believes that parents should have access to the truth, as stated by WNYC.
The de Blasio administration claims that crime in New York City schools has decreased by 29 percent since 2012.
Discrepancies in the data can arise due to differences between the city and state reporting systems.
According to WNYC, the city’s Department of Education suggests that the state’s reporting system encompasses a broader range of incidents, not all of which can be considered violent. The department explains that schools report incidents into the city’s system, which is then compiled by staff for the state’s system. However, the city’s annual figures are reported by the NYPD and only include incidents involving law enforcement, as reported by the outlet.
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