NYC Elementary Schools To Be Locked During School Days, City Says

NEW YORK CITY — Young students will be locked in theirs schools as part of a new security plan the New York City Education department announced Friday.

The new policy of locking doors once classes begin will launch in 744 New York City public elementary schools when students return on Sept. 7, said Education department Chancellor David Banks.

In support of the new policy, Banks detailed an encounter when a man released from "a facility" entered a school and was wrestled to the ground by safety agents and a principal.

"They might have created all kinds of harm for our babies in that school," Banks said. "We want to prevent that from happening in the first place."

Visitors at the selected schools will need to press a buzzer, present themselves to a camera monitored by a safety agent, show identification and explain the reason of their visit before being allowed to enter, Banks said.

The new policy will be implemented in all elementary schools by spring 2024 and will then expand to middle and high schools across the city, said the Chancellor.

Banks made this announcement at a weekly city safety briefing in City Hall alongside Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Police Commissioner Edward Caban.

Other new safety policies include weekly zoom meetings between public school principals and commanding officers at local precincts and increasing the number of school safety agents.

The number of safety agents before the pandemic, 5,063, dropped by about 2,000, Banks said. As of October, the number will stand at about 4,250.

"We're not trying to over police our schools," Banks said. "The principals, when they're seeing things happening in their schools - we can alert the commanding officer."

Adams and Caban also fielded questions about the controversial policy announced Thursday to fly drones over backyard Labor Day parties, and both argued the safety benefit outweighed privacy concerns.

"We have to push back on the sci-fi aspect of drones," Adams said. "No one is going to be monitoring your conversations."

Finally, Banks updated New Yorkers on the status of a looming school bus driver strike and the city's plans to get about 90,000 kids to their classrooms, which includes free MetroCards and Uber rides.

Banks is still hopeful a school bus strike can be averted but noted he had limited ability to influence a negotiation between drivers, their union Local ATU 1181 and contractors hired by the city.

The city is still sorting out the details on how to get kids to school should the drivers strike, Banks said.

"It is going to be a challenge," Banks said. "It will be a major, major inconvenience for all of our families."

At this point, Adams noted it was a service, not a mandate, that the city provide buses for its students. (It is a mandate for Individualized Education Program students with special needs.)

Earlier in the press conference, Banks had noted most kids who bring guns to school carry those weapons to protect themselves during their commutes.

"Last year we were disturbed to see the uptick of weapons that were brought into our schools," Banks said.

"Kids were not bringing these weapons to school to damage to their classmates. They told us over and over, these weapons have been used to make sure they can protect themselves to and from school."