Res 0455-2018

By Council Member Cabrera Whereas, School safety and security have increasingly become areas of concern in the wake of numerous school shooting incidents; and Whereas, Cases of intruders entering K-12 schools and shooting students and staff have become more common and severe; and Whereas, The deadliest mass shooting at a school in United States' history occurred on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children between 6 and 7 years old, as well as 6 adult staff members, were fatally shot; and Whereas, More recently, on February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people, 14 students and 3 teachers, were killed and 17 more were wounded, making it one of the world's deadliest school massacres; and Whereas, In addition to active shooters, there are concerns that lax school security could allow those with criminal backgrounds, such as sex offenders, access to vulnerable children; and Whereas, For those reasons, it is important to improve the monitoring of school visitors; and Whereas, New York City public schools generally require all visitors to show identification and sign in at the front entrance before entering the school building; and Whereas, However, there are electronic ID systems that can scan a visitor's ID and search a criminal database or sex offender registry and, if there are no matches, print out a visitor's badge; and Whereas, Such electronic ID systems are already in use in schools in parts of the U.S., such as the Edwardsville, Illinois School District; and Whereas, Given the importance of protecting the lives and safety of the City's public school children and staff; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the New York City Council calls upon the New York City Department of Education to use electronic ID systems that would determine criminal background of school visitors. LS# 5423 JA 4/9/18