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District 28 leaders and DOE officials address drop in school safety agents, urge community reporting
Summary
Community members raised urgent concerns about shortages of school safety agents and crossing guards; DOE officials said agent counts fell from about 5,000 to 3,700, described recruitment pathways and urged families to report gaps to district offices.
Families at the District 28 town hall pressed Chancellor Kumar Samuels and District safety officials about shortages of school safety agents and crossing guards.
Mark Rampersent, chief of safety and prevention, acknowledged the staffing decline and said the city previously employed about 5,000 school safety agents and now has approximately 3,700. He described recruitment efforts, including an assistant school safety agent program that creates a pathway for high school students and a single‑agent model for some elementary schools, and said the DOE coordinates with the NYPD when crossing‑guard support is needed.
Samuels emphasized that relationships and everyday adult‑student connections are central to safety: “Safety is driven by the open communication and strong relationships that you have with each and every adult in the school.” He added the administration is “aggressively” seeking more agents while noting recruitment is time consuming.
Rampersent asked families experiencing missing agents or crossing‑guard gaps to contact his office directly and said district staff continue to appeal the issue with city partners.
No binding new staffing commitments were recorded at the meeting; officials described ongoing recruitment and partnership efforts and promised follow‑up for specific school reports.
