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District 28 raises alarm on school safety staffing; DOE cites recruitment pathways
Summary
Families told the DOE many District 28 schools are operating with fewer school safety agents; DOE officials said citywide staffing fell from 5,000 to 3,700 agents and described an assistant-school-safety-agent pathway and work with NYPD and families to address gaps.
Parents and CEC members at a District 28 town hall pressed the Department of Education for immediate steps to address shortages of school safety agents and crossing guards at local schools.
"We hear you loud and clear, and we're continuing the fight," said Mark Rampersent, introduced as the DOE's chief of safety and prevention, after outlining staffing changes: "School safety was at 5,000 and now down to 3,700 agents." Rampersent described an assistant-school-safety-agent program that creates a pathway for high school students to become school safety agents and urged families to report crossing-guard issues directly to his office.
Chancellor Kumar Samuels said safety depends on relationships across the school community as well as staffing: "Your safety is driven by the open communication and strong relationships that you have with each and every adult in the school," he told attendees, while acknowledging the need to hire and retain more agents.
What officials said: Rampersent said DOE works "in lockstep" with NYPD and that the administration is pursuing recruitment but described the work as time-consuming. He also urged families to escalate cases when agents are absent or pulled from buildings.
What families asked for: Community members described incidents that highlighted risks at crossings and in school buildings and asked for both near-term fixes (consistent crossing guards, better schedules) and long-term recruitment and retention approaches.
Next steps: DOE officials said they are pursuing recruitment pathways and partnerships and asked families to continue reporting local incidents so the department can respond directly to site-level problems.
