The Student Safety Coalition

The Student Safety Coalition works to end the New York City School-to-Prison-Pipeline and its disproportionate impact on youth of color and youth with special needs. Made up of New York City advocacy, academic and community based organizations, the coalition uses a coordinated set of legislative, public education and organizing strategies. To create respectful school environments and ensure the right to education for all students, the coalition promotes positive rather than punitive school safety and discipline measures and the participation of students in school decision-making processes. The coalition previously worked to pass the Student Safety Act and will now work on, as its main short-term goal, the implementation of a new Contract for School Safety.

A New Vision for School Safety

The New Vision for School Safety is a list of nine guiding principles that seeks to overhaul the flawed Memorandum of Understanding between the New York City Department of Education and the NYPD. In 1998, the Board of Education voted to transfer school safety from educators to the NYPD without clear guiding principles for the role, training and oversight of police in schools. Since this initial transfer, the number of police personnel in schools has increased from 3,200 to more than 5,200 – making the School Safety Division the fifth-largest police force in the country. The Student Safety Coalition calls for the implementation of the New Vision for School Safety to provide clear and transparent guidelines for all NYPD employees in New York City schools.