Counselors, Not Cops: New Yorkers Protest Millions Proposed for School Safety Budget, Saying Money Fuels School-to-Prison Pipeline
Guided by a coalition of 40 New York City social justice organizations, dozens of students, parents and advocates converged on New York’s City Hall Wednesday to protest Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed increase to the NYPD’s School Safety Division budget, saying those millions would be better used on student social supports and services.
In an attempt to stem the tide of the school-to-prison pipeline, the Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY brought together a team outfitted in bright green “Counselors Not Cops” T-shirts in opposition to de Blasio’s 2020 fiscal year preliminary budget, which increases the NYPD’s School Safety Division by more than $27 million, bringing its total budget to at least $314 million and perhaps as high as $431 million—the largest proposed budget for the division in its history.
Additionally, the School Construction Authority is proposing to double school security spending to reach $200 million for policing instruments such as video surveillance and metal detection equipment, which, for many, is simply more fuel for the school to prison pipeline.
“Time and time again, our young people talk about whenever they walk into school, it feels like walking into a prison … they’re going through metal detectors, they’re being hand wanded, there are school safety agents roaming the halls,” Kate McDonough, Director of the Dignity in Schools Campaign told The Root. “That already makes them feel as if they’re in jail. Young people who are just being young people are having interaction with law enforcement when they shouldn’t be.”
What these advocates and their supporters want instead are funds CONTINUE READING: New Yorkers Protest Millions Proposed for School Safety Budget, Saying Money Fuels School-to-Prison Pipeline
