Sep 12, 2006 10:18 AM
Message from the Chancellor
Dear Colleagues:
Tackling
violence, bullying, and disorder at schools isn’t just a simple matter of
keeping people safe and secure. Safety is a prerequisite to
learning. If our kids are not safe as they walk through the hallways and
sit in the classrooms of our schools they cannot possibly learn what they need
to become successful students. Safety is
something that all New Yorkers—from parents and elected officials to union
representatives and educators—care about intensely. Everyone wants to do
whatever works to protect the students, teachers, and principals who work and
learn each day in our schools. It is
critical that we build on our success by strictly enforcing our own rules.It’s essential
that schools report all infractions—from the most minor to the most
serious. We, as a system, cannot afford to tolerate schools’ failure to
report incidents. We need to know which schools are keeping students and
educators safe and which ones are not. And, when we have full knowledge
of what’s going on in our schools, we can better target resources and support
our schools as we work, together, to make our schools even safer. Keep in
mind that some of our highest performing schools are the quickest to report
violent and unsafe incidents and to suspend students. This does not count
against them. All schools should follow these schools’ lead and report
all incidents, no matter how minor, to the appropriate authorities. We
want schools to stop violence, disorder, and disrespect in its tracks before it
gets in the way of other core school functions. With your
help, we have successfully worked to reduce crime, especially violent crime, in
our schools. The Mayor’s office will release the results of the last
school year in the next few weeks, and I am confident that we will continue
reducing the kinds of problems at our schools that can detract from learning. Our schools
are still not 100% safe. I still hear terrible stories about fighting,
about bullying, about injuries, about weapons. But on the whole, our 1,400
schools and 1.1 million students have become significantly safer as a result of
the hard work and vigilance of everyone in our community. I attribute
our progress to our continued collaboration with the NYPD and our ongoing
effort to enforce the Discipline Code. Last year, in addition to helping
Impact Schools with greater resources, the City started sending “mobile
scanning” teams to schools. This program adds an element of surprise that
helps us ensure the safety of our students and our schools. These teams helped
us confiscate 46 weapons and other dangerous instruments during the spring and
during summer school. We must work together to reduce this number so that
fewer weapons are coming near our school buildings. If you want
to learn more about our safety rules, please click here. If you have
any questions, I encourage you to reach out to your regional safety
administrator, or, if you are an Empowerment School principal, to your network team
leader. If you have additional questions, please call our central safety
office at (212) 374-4368 or email me. I look
forward to working with you this year to make our schools even safer.
The mayor,
the police commissioner, and I believe that by focusing on minor infractions,
we can help to prevent more serious incidents and cultivate an environment that
supports teaching and learning. This same view of minor infractions
helped New York City’s streets become the safest big city streets in the
country. Now, our school hallways and classrooms are becoming similarly
safe.
Sincerely,
Joel I. Klein, Chancellor
