Despite the city Education Department’s slogan that “safety is our top priority,” the city does not have enough safety officers to protect all the children attending preschool programs, The Washington Post has found.
The city has contracted with about 1,300 community-based organizations (CBOs) to run classes for about 63,000 three- and four-year-olds, about 60 percent of the preschool children under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education.
But the city does not staff the contract program with NYPD school safety officers, leaving the youngest and most vulnerable students unprotected.
“There are a lot of babies and no one at the front door,” Brianne Duberry, a mother and staff member at the daycare center, told The Washington Post.
City funding for CBO 3-K and Pre-K centers is based on enrollment and doesn’t cover security costs. Some pre-K center directors have used some of their city funds to hire private security, which cuts into their budgets for teachers and classroom supplies.
“At the end of the day, we’re not important to the higher-ups,” said Wanda Shiver, whose 4-year-old son, Dejima Yo, attends a CBO pre-K in the Bronx.
“We’re talking about children and we believe they should all be protected, regardless of location.”
Additionally, the New York City Department of Education’s $42.6 million plan to install remote door lock systems in all schools does not apply to CBO preschools.
“We don’t get as many services as a regular NYC Department of Education school, but we should get the same level of safety,” said Angelie Kapestany, a mother of a preschooler who attends the Bronx CBO kindergarten in the NYCHA complex.
With no safety officer in touch with the NYPD, staff and parents have relied on group chats and the Citizen Neighborhood Watch app for crime alerts.
“If something happens around a NYCHA building, we’re the last to know,” Kapestany said. “We don’t have a direct connection to the local police department.”
Chloe Pashman, a preschool director in the Bronx, recalled frantic calls from nearby NYCHA workers who had heard gunfire.
School staff quickly rounded up the children and moved them indoors.
“These are the lives of young children, the lives of staff and teachers who are already working low wages,” an exasperated Pashman said. “They don’t care if we live or die.”
Every New York City Department of Education school has at least one safety officer, but that number has been reduced by more than 25% since the pandemic began.
Unarmed officers, hired and trained by the NYPD, will patrol the school’s perimeter, operate metal detectors, screen visitors and keep trespassers out.
They are in direct contact with the police.
“School safety officers will not be dispatched to buildings that are not on Department of Education property and are not owned or controlled by the Department of Education,” an NYPD spokesman confirmed, citing an agreement between the police and the Department of Education.
NYPD Chief of School Safety, Capt. Tracy Mullett, declined to be interviewed.
New York City Education Department insiders have blasted the school system’s chief safety officer, Mark Lampersant, for failing to fix the problem.
“There’s nothing stopping Mr. Lampersant and his team from developing a plan to place safety officers in all early childhood facilities, including charter schools, it’s just that they simply don’t care.”
“We are supporting our CBO partners every step of this work, including providing extensive safety training to CBOs,” DOE spokesman Nathaniel Steyer said, “and at the request of Vice Chancellor for Early Childhood Education Kara Ahmed, putting them in touch with the district’s safety director.”
Several CBO directors disputed the DOE statement.
“We can’t get in touch with the borough security officers. No one knows who they are,” Pashman said.
Some people said they had never heard of such a person or did not even know he existed.
Craig Goldsberry, director of safety and security in the chancellor’s office, confirmed in a recent text message to Pashman that CBO does not have a borough safety director.
Paschman said he has asked the Department of Energy for help on the ground with evacuation plans and active shooter training but has not received any assistance.
CBO early childhood centers create their own safety plans and require staff to double as security guards.
“They want us to do our job as safety officers,” the Brooklyn director said.
Inequality in pre-school education worsens; Most CBO programs are located in low-income areas.
“There are a lot of Hispanics and blacks at my daughter’s school. We work, but we don’t make a lot of money, and not everyone speaks English,” said Vania Perez, a mother of two from the Bronx.
“They don’t listen to us.”
