Dear Commons Community,

The New York State Department of Education has labeled 40 schools in New York City “persistently dangerous.”

The state released its latest list of unsafe schools on Tuesday. Of the 47 schools on the 2013 to 2014 list, 40 of them are located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx or Staten Island.

The state labeled 33 schools persistently dangerous on the 2012 to 2013 list, and just 25 were located in New York City. Nine of the schools on last year’s list were on this year’s as well.

In order to compile the list, the state uses a formula that compares the number of violent incidents that took place at a school with the total number of students, according to the New York Post.

A state education spokesman said that the increase in the number of schools deemed persistently dangerous is due to better reporting by schools, not more violence. “We do not believe that schools are more dangerous now,” said the spokesman, Tom Dunn.

Marge Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the New York City Department of Education, told the New York Daily News that school safety has actually improved, noting that the number of arrests and suspensions made in city schools has decreased.

“The safety of our students comes first,” Feinberg said. “Crime in New York City’s schools has decreased significantly in recent years.”

Safety indeed needs to come first!

Tony