News

NEW YORK, NY December 24, 2003 — The city's most disorderly high schools and middle schools will be getting more safety agents and police officers next month. Mayor Bloomberg announced the change yesterday as part of his overall plan to improve school safety. WNYC's Beth Fertig has more.

The announcement followed weeks of tabloid headlines about hallway fights and mayhem in the public schools. Yesterday, the hoarse-sounding mayor vowed to seize control by using an approach similar to the city's war on crime.

BLOOMBERG: What that means is beginning January fifth, we will be laser focused on the most troubled high schools and middle schools in our the city. Starting with the worst we'll work our ways down the list as fast as real progress is made.

Bloomberg said the city will start with 10 schools in a program called Operation Impact. They'll each receive more safety officers, police and probation officers to go after truants. The Education Department will also watch its other schools for warning signs like low attendance or disorderly conduct. They could then get additional security measures like scanners.

The mayor was joined by the police commissioner and Chancellor Joel Klein as he made his announcement at a new high school in Queens dedicated to, of all things, law enforcement. Klein said he would cut some of the red tape that's made it too hard for principals to remove disruptive students.

KLEIN: What we need to do is put in place the alternatives that will enable our principals, their deans, assistant principals, to move swiftly and while respecting due process rights nevertheless get the students where they belong and not back in the schools where they're causing the problem.

Principals have been complaining that Klein's reorganization of the school system has caused a bottleneck. They describe a revolving door in which suspended students are quickly returned to their classes.

This seventh grader says there are often fights inside and outside her Middle School.

GIRL: There was just 10 fights in this past week. Police involved, everything. Somebody got jumped. This girl her mother came in the car with a whole bunch of girls with razors and bats, all of that.

The school's principal, who did not want to be identified, said there are just about a dozen trouble makers, or runners: Kids who refuse to stay in the school's designated suspension center. But they can't be removed without a lot of paperwork. And, the principal says, police have done little to crack down on neighborhood gangs. There are also just 4 safety officers in a building with more than 2000 students.

The Mayor plans to open more off-site detention centers for students who have been suspended. And students who have 2 suspensions in 2 years will be transferred immediately to a special program if they cause another serious offense. The head of the principals' union, Jill Levy, called that a good start.

LEVY: Of course every plan that we see depends upon the implementation of that plan. How quickly he's going to be able to get centers staffed. What kind of personnel we're going to be using. Lines of authority within the school, and within the suspension centers.

Throughout their press conference yesterday Klein and Bloomberg insisted that safety problems aren't rampant, but rather the fault of a few bad apples. They pointed to statistics showing only a slight increase in school crime over last year. (Though that doesn't include reports of non-criminal activity like disorderly conduct.) They also said they could deploy more officers to the new Impact Schools without spending extra money. But the head of the teachers union, Randi Weingarten, questioned that.

WEINGARTEN: We're all in favor of better utilization. But if you take some of the existing school security agents out of current elementary schools or middle schools or senior high schools that are not the impact schools so that you can flood the impact schools, what happens to the other schools? That's why I'm saying we need to see a budget.

Weingarten didn't attend the Mayor's announcement - saying she wasn't invited. The day before she attended a press conference with the City Council Speaker as he released his own plan for school safety.

Mayor Bloomberg started the school year in September with an ambitious reform plan and a promise to turn around the city's schools. But as the semester comes to an end, the recent focus on safety risks undermining his agenda. By releasing a new plan just in time for January, Bloomberg is now reaching out to his critics.

BLOOMBERG: Everybody's at fault. Everybody's part of the solution. Let's not look to the past. Let's not point fingers. You want to know who's responsible? I'm responsible and if I don't fix this don't vote for me. But I'm going to fix it.

Parents, teachers and principals are all going to be watching to see if he does. And so will his potential opponents for the mayoral race of 2005. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.