NYCLU Statement in Response to Mayor Adams Hiring 120 School Safety Agents

NEW YORK CITY– Following Mayor Adams’s decision to hire 120 new school safety agents, the New York Civil Liberties Union issued the following statement, attributable to Jake Martinez, deputy director of the Education Policy Center at the New York Civil Liberties Union:

“School should be a place where students can learn and grow, not one where they should expect their every move to be monitored by police officers. Mayor Adams’s decision to add more school safety agents to what is already the largest school police force in the county will not create safer schools. In reality, it will only fuel more arrests, suspensions, and expulsions, and bolster the school-to-prison pipeline that already disproportionately funnels students of color into the criminal legal system.

“The irony of an administration cutting school budgets while simultaneously adding more school police officers is lost on no one. If the Mayor wants safer schools, he should hire more guidance counselors, social workers, and teachers — not cops who endanger student’s safety and neglect their real needs.”