By Madina Toure
City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest), along with Queens Muslim, Jewish and Christian school leaders, are renewing calls for the city to provide more security in non-public schools.
Lancman formally announced the bill at a news conference at Yeshiva Ketana at 78-15 Parsons Blvd. in Flushing, along with Rabbi Binyomin Kesseler, Yeshiva Ketana’s Menahel; Ismael Khalil, president of Al-Mamoor School at 85-37 168th St.; and Robert Lowenberg, principal of St. Nicholas of Tolentine School at 80-22 Parsons Blvd.
Non-public schools are defined as nonprofit elementary or secondary schools.
They are calling for more security, such as the use of video cameras or metal detectors and the placement of school safety officers, Lancman said.
“We are calling on the city to treat every New York City kid with dignity and respect and the importance that they deserve,” he said. “Every kid in our city, whether they go to a public school or they go to a non-public school, is entitled to be safe and secure in their school.”
Lancman is the co-sponsor for a bill introduced by City Councilman David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn) in February 2014 that says the NYPD should assign no less than one school safety agent to a public or non-public school within 10 business days.
The bill has received support from 46 Council members, more than any other bill currently before the City Council, according to Lancman.
He also co-sponsored a similar bill introduced by City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) in December 2014 that would require the NYPD to provide non-public schools with more security if they ask for it.
That bill called on the NYPD to provide such schools with some or all of the security services that the city Department of Education already uses to protect children in public schools.
Khalil said the legislation is necessary to ensure adequate protection for non-public school students.
“I believe that this bill will provide us safety and security because our children in the non-public schools, they deserve the same exact quality of service from the NYPD and the city of New York,” he said.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
