Making NYC schools safer for everyone

In our roles as New York City mayor and schools chancellor, we both wear many hats: we are leaders, New Yorkers, and life-long public servants. But perhaps most importantly, we are both parents.

As parents, we know there is nothing more fundamental than the safety of our children. Learning simply cannot happen if students are not safe and well. When our public-school parents drop off their children at school each morning, they do so with the trust that their child will be cared for and kept safe. As leaders of the largest school system in the country, we must do everything in our power to maintain that trust.

That’s why the recent spate of safety incidents around our schools is particularly distressing to us. We are jumping into action, ramping up our safety efforts in a way that puts families and communities at the center. We want to reassure families that safety is our top priority, as well as hear their ideas, concerns, and feedback, equip them with meaningful resources and support, and expand community-driven safety initiatives.

To that end, on Oct. 26, New York City Public Schools hosted a safety forum called “Safe Streets, Safe Schools: A Community Call to Action,” attended by parents, families, and community members. At the event, we heard from parents worried about their children’s mental health, about the hazards many students face going to and from school, and about the scourge of gun violence in our communities.

Importantly, other city agencies, such as the NYPD, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Department of Youth and Community Development were there to offer resources and support, ensuring we take a collaborative, whole-of-government approach.

These are real and pressing concerns, and across our city agencies, we are working around-the-clock to address them. Our principals meet regularly with their local NYPD precinct commanders and we are nearing completion of our “Safer Access” door locking initiative in the lower grades, which equips schools with cameras, intercoms, and buzzers to provide additional layers of security.

We offer on-site mental health support in every one of our schools, and we’ve invested $74 million to maintain guidance counselors and social workers — even after the federal pandemic stimulus that was funding these services phased out. All schools participate in our “Respect for All” citywide anti-bullying initiative; in addition, we’ve enhanced our incident reporting pathways, including launching a new anti-hate hotline for any acts of discrimination or bias to make it easier for victims to come forward.

We’re also building on the momentum we’ve started with initiatives like “Project Pivot,” which is enlisting community partners to provide social-emotional and violence prevention support to 325 schools this year. The results speak for themselves: after one full school year, participating schools saw a 9% decrease in safety incidents and an approximately 13% decrease in suspensions, while chronic absenteeism dropped by nearly 8 percentage points.

We still have a long way to go, but this data shows we are on the right track, and we are investing in the types of programs that make a difference in young people’s lives.

One particular area where we know family and community engagement will be critical is in our fight against “subway surfing,” a terrifying and life-threatening act that tragically took the lives of two students in the past few weeks alone.

As we recently announced, we are re-doubling our efforts to educate our young people about the dangers of this illegal activity, including through the continuation of “Subway Surfing Kills — Ride Inside, Stay Alive,” a student-led campaign from the High School of Art and Design with posters and public service announcements that are currently in use throughout our subway system.

In the coming weeks, we’ll share more about our comprehensive approach to safety both in and around our schools and how we plan to continue engaging our students and families. We’ll be hosting borough-based safety forums to continue listening to our parents and communities, and New York City Public Schools will be relaunching the Chancellor’s Student Advisory Council to continue hearing directly from students.

Ultimately, we know that it will take the entire village to make sure our schools and communities are supportive, welcoming, and free of danger and violence. We are counting on you, fellow New Yorkers, to join us in this fight. As parents, nothing could be more important.

 Adams is mayor of New York. Aviles-Ramos is chancellor of the New York City Public Schools.