Video of a brawl involving dozens of students at Richmond Hill High School in New York was published on the New York Daily News website this week, and a safety agent union leader says students are scared.
The shaky mobile phone video in question was recorded by students on March 10 and appears to be of a gang initiation. The video was given to school safety agents in what union president Greg Floyd characterized as a cry for help. Although no one was injured in the incident, he claims the safety agents were outnumbered.
Floyd says that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is intimidating safety agents to not report fights to their union and to give warnings rather than make arrests. In 2015, the mayor instituted school discipline reforms aimed at decreasing punitive measures like suspensions while increasing restorative justice practices through diverted funding.
However, Floyd says the policies aren’t working.
“Students are afraid of the gangs, guns, knives,” he says. “They came to us because no one at City Hall is listening.”
This isn’t the first time the union has accused the city of downplaying incidents on campus. Last May Floyd accused the NYPD of pushing agents not to report weapons confiscations to the public.
One study released this month claims the city’s student discipline reforms have negatively impacted campus climate, although the study’s author admits more research is needed on the topic.
Photo Wikimedia
