Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chan cellor Joel Klein deserve praise for the good news in their report last week about falling crime rates in Gotham’s schools.
Major felonies dipped 11 percent in the most recent school year, to 1,042 felonies – down from 1,166 in 2006-07. Violent incidents fell 10 percent.
Yet for parents (not to mention teachers and other school staff) the persistence of any school crime, particularly the violent sort, remains cause for considerable concern.
And in presenting the good news, Bloomberg may have unintentionally reminded folks of the bad.
The falloff in crime, said Mike, “really gives us hope that we can look everybody in the eye and say your child is going to a safe school.”
The mayor hopes he can – maybe, one day, cross-your-fingers – tell every parent that his or her child attends a safe school?
How’s that make parents feel?
Each day, they send their kids off to school, entrusting their safety to the care of school officials. Yet Bloomberg is unable to say that every school is safe?
Remember, we’re not just talking about class clowns disrupting the day’s lesson or kids “borrowing” their neighbor’s lunch money.
To be sure, zero-level crime anywhere (let alone throughout an urban 1,400-school system) is a high bar to meet. Most parents needn’t fear for their kids’ safety – and, as noted, things seem to be improving, thanks to Klein and, no doubt, Police Chief Ray Kelly.
But no one should be happy with any crime at any school – let alone violence.
Oh, by the way: An audit last year by City Comptroller William Thompson suggests Mike’s numbers may be underestimating actual crime levels, as schools try to avoid being labeled “unsafe” by refraining from reporting incidents.
Meanwhile, some detractors reacted to the news by whining about the “overly aggressive NYPD tactics.” These misguided souls continue to focus on the rights of troublemakers to impede education for everyone else.
And in the bizarre world that is New York City, such claptrap gets a hearing.
We guess it really shouldn’t surprise anyone, then, that some schools remain unsafe. Alas.