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NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Eyewitness News has learned exclusively that New York City school safety agents have seized 5,931 weapons from students this year, according to the union for the safety agents.
It's a disturbing trend that has plagued the city's school system since the beginning of the year.
"When someone finds a weapon in the school, the very next day more weapons are brought because children say, well, they have a weapon I better bring one too," said Gregory Floyd, the head of Local 237.
Floyd said school safety agents, who are unarmed, are seizing brass knuckles, stun guns, knives and metal pipes from students. It's an issue that has been getting worse at city schools -- and one that Eyewitness News first reported in 2016.
The schools were out of control starting with de Blasio,” said Gregory Floyd, head of Teamsters Local 237, which represents the city’s school safety agents. “He decided to reduce suspensions by not suspending students for infractions they should have been disciplined for. This is part of the reason why we have what we have today.
“What you see is a result of ignoring the problem…I blame the last City Council, the last Mayor and restorative justice.”
Principals can levy a one to five day suspension, while superintendents can suspend students for up to a year.
Pressure from the DOE has prompted administrators to downgrade incidents or sweep them under the rug, educators charge.
“Those suspension numbers are going down because things aren’t getting reported or they’re getting downgraded,” claimed one anonymous Brooklyn teacher.
A teen was busted for allegedly threatening to shoot up his Queens high school in the wake of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas.
“I’m going to shoot the school. Like in Texas. Be ready,” 18-year-old Forest Hills High School student Diego Sarmiento allegedly scrawled on a desk, according to a criminal complaint filed by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
It was one in a series of shooting threats to disrupt New York City and Long Island schools over the past week.
Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday pleaded with parents to become more involved in their children’s lives, by confronting them about their knowledge of potentially criminal behavior.
He spoke one day after a mass shooting in Texas where an 18-year-old gunman killed at least 19 children and two teachers. His remarks also come as police report a dramatic spike in weapons being recovered from students in city schools.
