Safety and Discipline for New Teachers

As a professional, you expect to have a safe working environment. Sadly, that isn’t always the case in New York City’s schools. Some of your students may be disruptive or have other behavior problems. Or intruders may come into your building. It happens.

Serious learning cannot take place in an atmosphere of fear or chaos. That’s why the UFT has worked to make schools safer.

The results are evident. The fact that schools have school safety agents, security systems, alternative settings for disruptive students, a zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and a systemwide Student Discipline Code is in significant part due to union pressure and expertise.

This section highlights a few things you can do to protect yourself, your students and your school.