Tuesday: Students, Parents, Educators & Advocates to Hold Rally Before City Council Hearing on Student Safety Act

Next Tuesday, students, parents, educators and members of the Student Safety Coalition will rally on the steps of City Hall to urge the City Council to pass the Student Safety Act, legislation that would bring much-needed transparency to the massive police presence in New York City’s public schools.

Immediately following the rally and press conference, the City Council will hold its first hearing on the Student Safety Act, which is cosponsored by 33 council members. The act would require quarterly reporting by the Department of Education and NYPD to the City Council on a wide range of school safety issues, including incidents involving the arrest, expulsion or suspension of students, and a breakdown of information by students’ race, sex and disability status. This information could be used to craft more effective student safety policies and procedures.

Since the NYPD took control of school safety in 1998, more than 5,000 school safety agents and at least 200 armed police officers have been assigned to the city’s public schools. This unchecked police presence creates a hostile atmosphere that disrupts learning, leads to the mistreatment of students and educators, and contributes to unwarranted suspensions, expulsions and arrests.

What:
Rally and press conference prior to City Council hearing on the Student Safety Act

When:
Tuesday, Nov. 10 from noon to 1 p.m. (The hearing starts at 1 p.m.)

Who:
More than 100 students and parents from across the five boroughs
Advocates
City Council Members

Where:
Steps of City Hall

The Student Safety Coalition is composed of the following organizations: Advocates for Children of New York, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW 2325, Bronx Defenders, Children’s Defense Fund – New York, Class Size Matters, Correctional Association of New York, CUNY Graduate Center Participatory Action Research Collective, Make the Road New York, NAACP-Legal Defense and Education Fund, NAACP New York State Conference, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, National Lawyers Guild – New York City Chapter, NYCLU, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Suspension Representation Project, Teachers Unite, Urban Youth Collaborative, and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice.

Additionally, the following organizations have endorsed or passed a resolution in favor of the Student Safety Act: Advancement Project, Citywide Council on High Schools (CCHS), Coalition for Educational Justice, Community Asset Development Redefining Education (CADRE), Community Education Council 30 (CEC 30), The Justice Policy Institute, The National Center for Schools and Communities at Fordham University, National Youth Rights Association (NYRA), The New York City Bar Association Committee on Civil Rights, The New York Law School Racial Justice Project, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Working Families Party.