High Schools added to Impact list

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last Wednesday, February 14 that the Department of Education (DOE) added two Queens high schools to its citywide list of Impact schools that receive additional school safety resources to combat elevated crime levels.
“We are making good on the promise to make schools a safe haven and provide a stable learning environment for students,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
Double digit crime increases landed Jamaica High School in Jamaica and Campus Magnet High Schools in Cambria Heights on the city’s list of crime-laden Impact schools, but one of those may not merit the infamy implied by that label, according to a teachers’ union representative.
“Jamaica [High School] itself is not as bad as “Impact” makes it seem. The principal and staff work very closely together on safety, enforcing a “zero tolerance” policy,” said James Vasquez, Queens high schools representative for the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).
“It’s a good school and a safe school,” said Vasquez.
Introduced in January 2004, the Impact program seeks to reduce violence and disorder in schools by increasing the number of school safety agents and NYPD officers assigned there. Additionally, the schools receive more support in areas like conflict resolution, peer mediation and after-school programming, said DOE spokesperson Dina Paul Parks.
According to statistics provided by the Mayor’s office, from the start of the school year in September 2006 through January 7, 2007 violent crime increased by 50 percent at Jamaica High School as compared to the same period one year earlier.
Two robberies, one felony assault and nine misdemeanor assaults occurred at Jamaica High School during the four-month period, said Jason Post, a Bloomberg spokesperson. Eight similar incidents were reported during the same period one year earlier
Three of the 12 incidents occurring this year were categorized as major crimes, a 50 percent decrease from the six major crimes reported during the previous year.
Overall, the total number of crimes reported at Jamaica High School rose five percent from 22 incidents last year to 23 this year.
Unlike Jamaica High School the UFT considers the crime picture more poignant at Campus Magnet because the facility is made up of four small schools throughout which no single safety policy is being uniformly implemented.
“Campus Magnet did need to be an Impact school,” Vasquez said, explaining that each school of approximately 500 students has its own principal. Of the four principals, one is in charge of overall school safety. However, it is difficult to enforce one consistent safety policy throughout all of the schools because of a number of established barriers designed to prevent principals from encroaching on one another’s territory, he said.
At the Campus Magnet schools violent incidents remained unchanged from the previous year’s count of 13. However, the number of these categorized as major crimes rose 25 percent from 4 in the previous year to 5 in the current year.
The total number of 28 crimes reported this year increased by 47 percent the 19 crimes reported the previous year.
Vasquez said that the school had come to the DOE’s attention because three safety officers had been injured and one student slashed with a razor blade there in recent weeks. There has also been an increase in robberies at the school, he said.
According to the DOE’s Paul Parks, crime statistics alone are not responsible for a school’s Impact status. She explained that factors including school achievement, student and staff absenteeism as well as graduation rates also contribute to the designation.
She also said that the Impact label is not meant to punish schools.
“It’s not the worst thing in the world at all,” she said, indicating that it’s an opportunity for schools to get the additional resources they need to improve and head in a better direction.
Judith Chin, the regional superintendent who oversees both schools, did not return calls requesting comment.
Jamaica and Campus Magnet High Schools join Newtown High School in Elmhurst as Queens Impact schools. Additional schools include three in the Bronx and three in Brooklyn.