Report Double-Digit Dip In City School Crime; NYPD, DOE Cited for Efforts
By DAVID SIMS
Mayor Bloomberg, along with Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, announced Aug. 5 that school crime had dropped substantially in the last year, with an 11-percent decrease in major felonies and a 10-percent decrease in violent offenses across all city schools.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang MAKING SCHOOLS SAFER: Mayor Bloomberg, flanked by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein (left) and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, said the two agencies' anti-crime efforts 'are succeeding and are giving our children the safe learning environments that they deserve.'

The Mayor made the announcement at the High School of Graphic Communication Arts in Manhattan, a school that experienced an 88-percent drop in crime over the last school year. In his speech, the Mayor credited the joint efforts between departments, saying: "the NYPD, Department of Education and schools officials have all worked collaboratively to ensure that schools are a safe place for students. Their efforts are succeeding and are giving our children the safe learning environments that they deserve."

The statistics also showed a significant drop in school crime since the Mayor took office, with a 34-percent drop in major offenses and a 31-percent fall in violent ones since the 2000-2001 school year. The Mayor called the reductions "staggering" and a "success story," saying that cooperation between the NYPD and DOE had produced "a coordinated safety strategy involving Principals, Teachers, School Safety Agents, Police Officers, parents and students."

Commissioner Kelly reinforced the Mayor's praise for school safety officers, who he said "[don't have] an easy job. They're employees of the Police Department, they wear uniforms, but they have no firearms. And they oftentimes work in some demanding situations."

The Mayor and the DOE's "Impact Schools" program has also seen statistical success, with only 37 major crimes reported during the past school year in the nine designated schools, down from 87 in their first year in the program. They reported 109 violent crimes in 2007-08, compared to 245 when they entered the program. Campus Magnet High School in Queens was the most successful, with 89 percent fewer major crimes after just one year on the Impact list, which includes schools designated for added resources because of problems with violence.

UFT: Can't Let Up

Mr. Klein said that the impact schools were "moving every way in the right direction" and that the DOE was getting "real results" from its programs. United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a statement that she was "impressed by what we and the administration have been able to accomplish through collaboration. Now, we must continue our efforts to make every classroom a learning environment free from disruption, and that means strict enforcement of school discipline codes."