Union's 'TONE' campaign aims to make schools safer

by Jim Callaghan

Sep 25, 2008 12:25 PM

The UFT kicked off its “School TONE” campaign in September in an effort to make schools safer for members, parents and students.

“TONE” stands for “Teamwork and Organization: Necessary for Education.” The union’s goal is to promote in every school a safe and orderly climate where teaching and learning can occur.

UFT Vice President Michael Mulgrew said, “If anyone thinks his or her classroom or school is not safe and orderly, we are here to assist in any way possible.” He said the union, together with the Department of Education, would “integrate student support services and discipline to help students learn new tools so they can change their behavior.”

A poster was mailed in September to every chapter leader to be posted on the UFT bulletin board in the school.

It announces the following services that the UFT can provide if a school is having safety problems:

• A safety walk-through which includes a school safety assessment (including a physical inspection of the school site and the grounds) that is conducted by UFT safety specialists in conjunction with DOE and NYPD/school safety division staff;
• An incident analysis;
• A review of the school’s safety plan with an eye to making recommendations to the school safety committee for improvements and/or additions;
• Violence prevention training for staff;
• Crisis intervention training; and
• Training for classroom teachers and other staff on the Student Code of Conduct (discipline code), suspension procedures and Chancellor’s Regulations governing safety.

UFT Director of Safety and Health Sterling Roberson said the DOE is cooperating with the union on safety issues. School officials sent a memo in early September to all school principals detailing school safety procedures including the establishment of a school safety committee and a school safety plan, incident reporting procedures, student-to-student harassment, discipline and intervention, and suspension procedures.

Roberson said the School TONE campaign was phase two of the union’s “Safe, Secure Schools” campaign, which was launched last year with the emphasis on incident reporting.

Roberson stressed how important it is for members to report all safety incidents and occurrences to the union by filing a safety-discipline report at www.uft.org or by faxing an incident report to 1-212-677-6612.

For emergencies, the member should call the UFT Safety and Health hotline at 1-212-701-9407 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.