For Immediate Release

Number of "persistently dangerous" schools drops in city

Aug 27, 2009 10:25 AM

The State Education Department on Aug. 27 released its list of schools deemed “persistently dangerous” under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Fourteen New York City schools were removed from the list while another eight were added.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew responded with the following statement:

We’re happy to hear that fewer New York City schools are considered to be persistently dangerous under NCLB and by the state. School safety is a high priority of the UFT — a critical part of our larger mission to help strengthen school communities — and we have worked very collaboratively with the DOE and NYPD to identify and deal with issues. Our safety and health teams are in schools every day, responding to and supporting teachers and administrators when incidents occur. No child should be afraid to go to school, no educator should be afraid to go to work and parents should be confident that they are sending their child a safe and orderly environment.

Time and time again, we have maintained that this NCLB practice of labeling schools based on the number of incidents they report is problematic. We cannot help schools solve their safety issues unless we know about them, and NCLB essentially penalizes schools for doing that reporting. This is a problem that needs addressing as discussions about reauthorizing NCLB move forward.