Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Criminal Justice Coordinator John Feinblatt announced new statistics, which show a 14 percent decrease in major felony crime during the 2012-2013 school year compared with the previous year.
Violent crime was down 28 percent over that same time period.
Since the 2000-01 school year, major crime has dropped by 56 percent and violent crime is down 55 percent.
The officials credited these reductions to the Impact School initiative announced in 2004 and other interagency efforts.
"Safety is a top priority and over the past 12 years our schools have provided our students and staff with a positive, nurturing environment where they can excel," Walcott said. "Under this administration, we have established a strong collaborative partnership with the NYPD's School Safety Division, which has resulted in a dramatic decline in school crime."
The Impact School initiative was launched in January 2004 with a goal of reducing school violence to create safer environments for students to learn. The initiative focuses on a small number of schools with high concentrations of major and violent crime by focusing school safety and oversight on these schools. All infractions of the Department of Education Discipline Code are met with graduated responses from peer mediation and negotiation, conflict resolution, anti-bullying awareness and, if necessary, suspensions.
The Department of Education along with school safety experts from the NYPD developed a rubric to assess the safety conditions at Impact schools and those at risk of being added to Impact noting entry and exit conditions, students congregating in halls without passes and other situations that would be conducive to disorder. Schools were assessed on these factors and the Department of Education made repeated visits to meet with principals, discuss identified problems and develop plans for improvement. Over the years DOE trained network supervisors to use the rubric to monitor all schools throughout the city.
Last year, there were 10 schools on the Impact list. These schools all saw significant reductions in both major and violent crime. Violent crime in these schools dropped 48 percent from the 2011-12 to 2012-13 school years while major crime fell 28 percent in that same period.
School Safety Figures:
Citywide: 2000-01-2012-13
