New York City to provide Security officers to Private Schools

01 Dec New York City to provide Security officers to Private Schools

“New York City will begin hiring security officers for private schools after Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to a $19.8 million bill designed to improve school security.

The bill, sponsored by Councilman David Greenfield of Brooklyn, requires the city to provide at least one security officer in all non-public schools holding more than 300 students, according to capitalnewyork.com.

Capital New York go on to say “The measure, sponsored by Councilman David Greenfield, a Brooklyn Democrat, would provide at least one private security guard in non-public schools, including yeshivas and other religious schools with 300 or more students.

“Nothing is more important than our children’s safety. This legislation recognizes that all children, regardless of where they go to school, deserve to learn in a safe environment,” Greenfield said in a statement.”

The agreement marks a change in policy for the city, which has never provided taxpayer money for non-public school security.” This quote was taken from a recent article by campussafetymagazine.com.

The article goes on to say that “The officers, referred to as security guards in the bill text, will be privately contracted employees from a state-licensed security guard agency. It was decided that the officers would not come from the NYPD School Safety Department after department officials warned that thinner staffing levels could compromise public safety.”

It seems that Campus and school safety in New York and across the country is being taken increasingly seriously which can only be a positive for everyone at the schools.

The proposed $19.8million in funding is a considerable decrease from the original estimate of $39million. However this will still represent a huge change in the policy for the city as this will be the first time they have used taxpayers money to provide security religious and non religious schools.

The council will vote on the bill early next month.