| Releases & Statements
Public Advocate Betsy
Gotbaum has once again voiced her concerns about Mayor Bloomberg’s
failed schools safety policies. Standing in front of Jamaica High
School with the Dean of Security, Gotbaum faulted the Mayor and
Schools Chancellor for a safety plan that falls short of protecting
children.
“Here’s another example
of a policy, announced with much fanfare, that has turned out
to be a failure. Dangerous kids are allowed to stay in their schools
and continue to victimize the victim. That’s exactly the
type of problem DOE promised to solve,” said Gotbaum.
Brett Rosenthal, Jamaica High School’s
Dean of Security, outlined all the ongoing safety problems at
the Queens School, emphasizing that despite the administration’s
claims that crime in school is down, “nothing could be further
from the truth.”
“My fear is that no one really
cares about the safety of teachers, deans, and security personnel,
and most of all the safety of our students,” stated Mr.
Rosenthal. “New York City Schools are gang infested. Our
children are being victimized on a daily basis by robberies, assaults,
and gang activity.” According to the Mayor’s own management
report, released last month, grand larcenies are up 42 percent
and petty larcenies are up 16 percent.
A major problem, according to Mr.
Rosenthal, is the Mayor’s failed suspension policy. “The
superintendent suspension process is supposed to put an end to
a lot of criminal activity, but how can it when it is allowing
perpetrators of criminal acts and violators of chancellor’s
regulations to come back into the same building where they committed
an assault or robbery on a fellow student?”
Earlier this year an investigation
conducted by the Public Advocate’s office of a dozen schools
across the city revealed that despite a suspension policy that
promised to permanently remove violent students from their schools,
many of these students have been allowed to return.
Gotbaum blames much
of the failure to make all schools safer on the Mayor’s
sole focus on a handful of impact schools. “The Mayor is
only paying attention and putting resources into sixteen schools
and neglecting all the rest. It’s time for the Mayor and
Chancellor to adopt a clear and concise suspension policy, inform
the schools about the policy and enforce it. Otherwise all hell
is going to break loose in our schools.”
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