Police and education officials fiercely defended school security officers yesterday, a day after a principal was arrested at a high school in the East Village for trying to intervene as officers arrested a student.
“School safety agents are the backbone of school security,” said James Secreto, an assistant police chief and the commanding officer of the school safety division. “They take front-line responsibility for keeping schools safe.”
On Tuesday, Isamar Gonzales, a 17-year-old senior at East Side Community High School, tried to enter the school, at 12th Street and First Avenue, just before 8 a.m. Security officers asked her to return later, prompting an argument that resulted in Isamar’s punching the officer in the face, the police said. Mark Federman, the school’s principal, then tried to prevent the officers from taking Isamar out the front door, and began arguing with another officer.
The arrests spurred renewed complaints that school officers are often too aggressive and may foster a hostile atmosphere on campus, a complaint voiced for several years by civil liberties advocates. Nearly 5,000 officers are stationed at city schools.
At the hearing, both Mr. Secreto and Kathleen Grimm, the deputy chancellor for operations, declined to comment directly on Tuesday’s arrests, despite continued questioning from council members.
Still, much of the hearing focused on the line of authority between officers and principals. Peter F. Vallone Jr., the chairman of the Public Safety Committee, suggested that Tuesday’s arrests showed that arguments between school and the police were not unusual in the hallways of the schools.
Echoing the questions of several other council members, Mr. Vallone asked Assistant Chief Secreto who had the ability to determine if an arrest was needed.
“With fights between kids and no injuries, the principal can make that call,” he said. “Once you have an injury, you have a crime, and that is when we are going to make that call.”
The Police Department took control over school safety officers under a memorandum of understanding signed by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in 1998. Robert Jackson, the chairman of the Council Education Committee, said that it was not clear if the agreement had been reviewed or renewed since then.
Ms. Grimm said no formal agreement was necessary, since the Education Department was simply part of city government controlled by the mayor, like the Police or Fire Departments.
According to a police patrol guide, officers are supposed to notify principals before an arrest happens, but a principal has no authority to determine whether that arrest should occur.
“The principal is in charge of the building — she is in charge of making sure she creates a safe environment where children can learn,” Ms. Grimm said. “When a crime is committed, that is when law enforcement takes over. That happens in our schools, that happens in our hospitals, that happens in all our institutions.”
Mr. Vallone said he was considering introducing legislation to set clear protocols between the Police and Education Departments.
Outside the hearing, Gregory Floyd, president of Local 237 of the Teamsters union, which represents school safety agents, spoke on the steps of City Hall with the two officers who were injured in the dispute on Tuesday, Nadine Penniston and Mark Ruiz. Neither officer spoke, but Mr. Floyd held up a picture of Ms. Penniston’s hair, some of which was pulled out during the scuffle.
“Safety agents have been wrongfully accused of criminalizing the schools, but they are the ones being treated like criminals,” Mr. Floyd said. “They are the ones being assaulted and degraded.”
Hours later, several students showed up to testify about being arrested by school officers. One student said he was held for hours in a “holding room,” while another spoke of being screamed at by a 300-pound officer. A student from Aviation High School in Queens said his six-inch ruler was confiscated by an officer who called it a “hazard to society.”
