A city councilman is pushing the mayor to move forward with a plan to place school safety officers in private schools.
Councilman David Greenfield said representatives from the city’s Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities back the School Safety Agents Act, which would set aside $39 million in the budget to pay for the NYPD officers in their schools. He and religious leaders have sent letters to Mayor Bill de Blasio throughout the week to get him to formally support the bill.
“Parents are worried about their child’s security,” he said.
Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for the mayor, said the administration and the NYPD take school safety at all institutions very seriously.
The city has 5,000 school safety officers throughout its public schools system, according to the councilman’s office.
The bill has 46 co-sponsors and is part of the budget negotiations. Greenfield said the cost for the officers would be minuscule since there will be a $3.8 billion increase in overall spending in this year’s budget.
