 Test test test test Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us for today's public safety briefing led by deputy mayor for public safety Phillip banks following our last speaker We will take a few questions from the media followed by some questions that have been submitted by the public ahead of today's briefing I would now like to turn it over to deputy mayor for public safety Phil banks Good morning everybody and welcome to this week's public safety briefing and every Friday We hold these discussions to let you the public here directly from Leaders throughout the city about the ways in which we are working to keep you safe and the information you need to help protect Yourselves and loved ones. This is a two-way street. This is collaboration We need to hear from you and how we can do that is if you sign up from here from Eric comm There we will be you could be a prize a future topics We're going to discuss and that is a platform for you to send us your suggestions and your questions Today, I'm joined here by three guests. Of course the mayor of New York City, Mayor, Eric Adams We have the Department of Education Chancellor David Banks and the NYPD Commissioner Ed Caban You will be hearing about the use of technology that's going to increase security in our schools Programs to protect students well-being and their opportunity to succeed The NYPD will be discussing the recap of the summer Labor Day weekend Juve and also some back-to-school Partnerships with the NYPD and with that I will turn it over to the mayor of the city of New York Mayor Adams. Thank you Thanks so much Phil deputy mayor banks and I really want to thank our school Chancellor David Banks and our police commissioner Eddie Caban You hear you have heard me state over and over again if you don't educate you will incarcerate and the number is bear that out 80% of the men and women on Rikers Island of my last check Don't have a high school diploma or an equivalency diploma and some of them are there because I always state is the betrayal of our educational system that has a downstream mindset anytime you have a system where 30 to 40% of those who are incarcerated are experiencing learning disabilities like dyslexia we create a pathway for Imprisonment and not a prep pathway for careers and that's why that we are all here together one of the first things we did was to create a relationship between our police department and The Department of Education Chancellor Banks and the former police commissioner Kishan Sue ensured that the commanders Had regular meetings and check-ins with the principles of schools and superintendents that develop an amazing Relationship and it's not lost on me that we have not had one shooting on school Property or inside a school building as we have witnessed mass shootings and shootings across the country inside school's buildings We have not had a shooting in a school building in the city of New York And I think it has a lot to do with that collaboration But we've always talked about our upstream approach and Chancellor Banks will go into some of the upstream approaches that we are Implementing not only last year, but during this school year and the development of the full personhood of our children on several different levels He gave me a briefing this morning And I'm excited as we start the new school year with all the challenges that we are facing It is clear to us that we are ready to accept those challenges if you start a school year Hoping everything is going to be smooth without any bumps in the road You'll send yourself up for disappointment We must suggest to those point those bumps pivot and shift and make sure that we can create a safe environment We can educate our children and have a productive year in school We can't fail our school if produces negative effects down the line and something that we are going to continue to fight to Move our children in the right direction New York City's school children deserve to learn Just also just to be kids School should be fun enjoyable. They should be excited about meeting their friends and Introducing themselves to new friends and when the first day of school just around the corner I want to be clear that we are creating a school system where every child cannot just survive But the child could thrive When we invest upstream our children will invest in the city's future and since day one this Administration has believed that and we will continue to lean into that. I was extremely proud of When the Chancellor instituted universal dyslexia screening our program Look at the numbers over half a million students have gone through a level of some form of screening And when you identify those 1500 Approximately that were indicators that we need to drill down on we were catching them Upstream to give them the services that they deserve. No child should have go through what I went through Waiting into college before identifying that I had a learning disability We need to stop the pipeline and that is what this Chancellor is committed to do in partnership with our police Commissioning and reading the math out of foundation of everything we do So we are also making a historic shift and the way we teach our young people reading and math through New York City reads. This is a extremely exciting Pivot and what we have been doing for far so long making literacy reading and math instruction the core focus of our public schools Now for some of our children the breakfast and lunch they eat at school are their only meals think about that Breakfast and lunch for many of our children That is the most important meal for them and it is the most stable meal that they receive We are taking a giant step forward to making sure our students have access to healthy Nutritionist meals that are currently that culturally appropriate is vital to keeping our young people New Yorkers in school. I don't think there's ever been a student in the history of the New York City public school system That did not say that the school meals are terrible. We want to turn that around We want them to enjoy the meals to be part of the engagement looking at the cafeterias changing the lunchroom Experience and I was really impressed this morning during a briefing when Chancellor Banks talked about how he sat down With students and had lunch with them engage and not academic but engage in just everyday Conversation and he encouraged the principles that we had this morning to do the same We want to make sure that every student graduates from a New York City school We have a clear pathway to the future that is why we are leading the way with programs like some of youth program summarizing program and future ready New York City program We also want to make sure their recreation is solid and safe with our Saturday night lights program is helping keep them in a safe space and using Existing school builders to do so our schools are important and we are clear that every zip code every block every neighborhood Every child should have an opportunity regardless of their background Regardless of the language they speak a regardless scholars of what culture they have and we know the challenge We're facing this year particular We're dealing with thousands of students that are part of the migrant and asylum seekers The Chancellor did not sit back and wait his team spent the entire summer Making sure that we can make some of the technical changes within the department of New York City public schools to provide the proper instruction education language Disabilities and translation all of those services we took into account throughout this entire summer We did not wait and become reactionary We spent the summer being proactive and the results will speak for itself So again, thank you deputy mayor Banks and I look forward to engaging in a lively briefing with the press and with the community. Thank you very much Thank you, Mr. Mayor next we're gonna hear from the Chancellor of the Department of Education and So a Dave welcome. I think that you're gonna be talking a little bit about technology right to increase your security in our schools Also about students well-being. I know that the school year is about to open up. It was the worst time of the year for me All right, that particular time has had to go back to school But I know that's a big big a big deal for the Department of Education So, you know shoot tell us about it. I love getting ready for the school year Love there's a school year open though. No as kids come off the summit There's always a certain level of angst As everyone comes off the summer and that's a level of angst for kids as well as their families But it is the beginning of the end of the summer and in the beginning of the fall season and And we are ready. I'm really excited To be in this position as Chancellor Thank you, mr. Mayor again for your belief in me to be the leader of the New York City public school system largest school system In the nation that has been a real honor for me to serve in this role And and I think the best days for our school system are absolutely in front of us I'm filled with a level of excitement, but I will tell you that you know one of the Parents and their kids and they expect two things in particular one their child is going to be safe and That secondly their child is going to learn to read Because reading is the gateway then for all the other subject areas including math and science if you don't learn to read It's very difficult for you to achieve a level of success in any of the other core Subject areas as well and next week. We'll be having a press conference together with my entire senior leadership team Right before we open our schools where we're gonna delve into all of these issues We're getting prepared to open up the school year But today I really wanted to talk a little bit about safety and our safety preparedness for all of our schools I'm so thrilled the partnership that I have with the NYPD and the police commissioner from police commissioner a quiche on soul to now a police commissioner caban Commissioner caban and I speak on a regular Basis and that was not always the case in prior administrations Police department and New York City public schools oftentimes operated in silos Both trying to do good work, but we recognize in this administration as the mayor has said from the beginning The alignment of our values and our efforts you optimize the work when you're working together and so Commissioner caban and I speak on a regular basis. In fact, just yesterday the commissioner Hosted my entire senior leadership team for a two-hour tour at the New York City Police Academy's training center Which if you have never visited we should create a moment for them to see it It is an amazing facility and it is a world-class gold standard operation for how you prepare a New York City police officers And in fact, it has served as an inspiration for me to create a similar type of facility New York City public schools We do not have one particular facility where we train all of our Teachers and our parrots and all of our school a's and all of our workers We train them over a wide range of facilities and so that facility serves as an inspiration That's the reason we did the visit yesterday We have members with us from the school construction authority as well but the highlight of the visit for me Was as we went into several different rooms and we met the recruits. We're coming on the NYPD We're getting ready to come on with the new class of school safety agents And I asked a simple question How many of you are actually graduates of New York City public schools? And I'd say in each room I went to well over 90% of the hands that went up And I just looked at our team and I said these are our kids These are our kids. These are the folks that we work with in third grade eighth grade 10th grade Who eventually when we say these are our kids? Really represent our future and to see them now moving into these kinds of positions is really important And it was inspiring for me to see that and I saw at least three young men from the Eagle Academy And those of you know I hope to start the Eagle Academy's and and the Bronx School for Law Government and Justice Where I served as principal before the Eagle Academy and to see some of my students from those schools in these Programs now getting ready to come out and provide safety for all of the residents of New York City Was really really just a highlight for me. So Commissioner I want to thank you for for hosting us for being there with us yesterday and the work that we're going to do together The mayor had set out very early on that he wanted a deeper level of communication between our school principals and the NYPD and So during the last semester the mayor convene a zoom with every principal in New York City over 1,800 principles Together with every commanding officer from the New York City Police Department who oversees a particular precinct and Together what we decided to do was that there would be a weekly zoom with the commanding officer of the precinct Every commanding officer probably has anywhere from 25 to 35 schools in their command Those folks ought to be talking to each other We're not trying to militarize our schools and we're not doing that We're not trying to over-police our schools and we're not doing that But what we are doing at the behest of our mayor was to say enhance a level of communication So that the principals when they are seeing things that are happening in their schools If they're seeing other kids coming to their school trying to create problems after school Who do they alert so we can alert the commanding officer the precinct give them a heads up and they can help to connect those dots That enhanced level of communication has already shown I think a marked improvement during the last semester of the school year And so very very happy we're going to continue to do that We're adding into that now the borough commanders will be meeting regularly school superintendents and So we're enhancing a deeper level of Communication as well to fortify the gains that we've already made and to ensure that our kids are going to continue to be safe So so that's one piece that we're doing the other thing that we're really excited about and we've made Multimillion dollar level of investment in this is our door locking system We have seen all across the nation These folks who've come into public schools and have Created a level of violence and where many of our young people have died and we continue offer up our thoughts and prayers We want to make sure that we're doing everything in New York City to prevent that from ever happening here And so as the mayor said we're proud that we have not had that Knock on wood But beyond knocking on wood you got to prepare and you work hard and you and you communicate and One of the things that we're doing is where we're launching our door locking system and so starting with this school year Which includes for us our phase one has over 740 722 schools how many schools mark with 744 744 elementary schools a part of our phase one work We will be locking the front door of the schools after the students are already in the school It's not meant to keep parents away. It's a door locking system, and it's a camera system So after the school day has begun in that front door locks Anyone who shows up at the school will press the buzzer They will be seen on camera by the school safety agent at the front door They will be able to communicate with them. They will present their ID and the reason for them being there Before we gain entry the mayor and I visited a school in Queens last year where we had a young man who was released from a facility and Within moments of being released from that facility entered into one of our schools And we're not for the hard work of that school safety agent and the principal who together a Wrestled this person to the ground. They might have created all kinds of harm for our babies in that school we want to prevent that from happening in the first place and so and so by this spring We will have completed this work for all of our elementary schools And then we will begin the work for our middle schools and our high schools But we certainly want to start with our youngest children first in doing that And so that door locking system has taken place We have a number of schools which we've already put in place But by the spring we'll have completed the work for every elementary school In the city, but we also recognize that it's not just the work of the NYPD that guarantees the safety of our kids Or our school safety agents they all play a role But we need our community to be actively involved and engaged and that's one of the reasons why last year we launched project pivot So project pivot is now going from 144 schools from last year to 250 schools this year These are schools that are in some of our highest need areas where we've seen the greatest uptick in violence And we've gotten community-based organization members these are the folks who grew up in these communities They know the communities they know all the folks in the community to be involved And we've given them contracts to work with us in our schools And the work that they're doing has a wide range from tutoring to taking kids on trips to providing safe passage to and from schools Because last year we were disturbed to see the uptick in the amount of weapons that have been brought to our schools But kids were not bringing these weapons to school to do damage to their classmates They told us over and over these weapons have been used to make sure that they can protect themselves to and from school But we don't want kids to have to bring weapons at all We want them to feel safe at all times the project pivot community-based members are helping us to do that So we're very excited about that our ability to expand on that work to take a deeper dive on that work We continue to learn each and every day In this work that we're doing and then finally I would just say as the mayor talks about the prevention The mindful breathing work that we're doing many of our schools had already started that work because they understood the importance Helping a young person understand how to center themselves is critically important. It's not just who's coming to break up the fight Or what disciplinary action will take place afterwards But helping kids to develop the skills and ability inherently to know how to calm themselves down in the face of challenge and turmoil and sometimes confrontation and So aware we are working this year to ensure that every school in the city is going to have at least two to four minutes of Mindful breathing for all of our students. It's not just a nice cute thing to do It is a lifelong Skill that we want to see our schools get better at and develop over a period of time So that when they are faced with any level of trauma They know How to take a deep breath and Try to make better choices before they just react and We feel very good about helping our schools to be able to do that So there are a host of things that we're doing we'll talk more next week at the press conference That we'll do together with our entire senior leadership team But we're really excited about the work for this school year and marks the beginning of my second full year As chancellor and I'm thrilled to work together with the police commissioner together with the deputy Deputy mayor who I know a little bit as well And I think that all of this together enhances the level of communication Which gives us the best chance to continue to be successful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you chancellor Okay commissioner, how you doing? I'm doing good. Very good I know that we're gonna talk a little bit about the recap of the summer, right? And I know that it was from a violence perspective We are really heading in the right direction like a lot a lot of progress You've been there since the beginning Labor Day weekend coming up So, you know, we got Juve's always just a challenge and the West Indian day parade and of course You're gonna talk a little bit about your partnership with the DOA. So So good morning, everyone. Thank you for having me. I want to echo the chancellor's sentiments and thank you for your continued partnership It's truly remarkable what we're doing right now David appreciate everything you've done what your team is done You know what we're seeing at the rival of school year and the conclusion of the summer We're seeing a coinciding with the continued reduction in violence in New York City Since are some of the employment plan went to place at the beginning of May Shooting incidents across the five boroughs are down 26 percent Which means there were 135 fewer shootings compared to the same period last summer The result is 193 fewer people struck by gunfire this summer You'll also continue to see the clients and murders So far this year. We had 27 fewer murders city-wide When I look at it, you know, these trends should come as no surprise to anyone Your NYPD officers are out there day and night going toward danger Holding those willing to pull triggers accountable So far this year. We've taken over 3,000 guns And we've made over 3,000 gun arrests in New York City this year alone And this weekend as the city gears off to celebrate Juve The NYPD will be doing the same The name of public safety. We will not let up There'll be thousands of officers deployed in and around the west indian american day parade route And as I mentioned yesterday, we want everyone to come out and enjoy themselves and have a wonderful time The reduction of violence we are seeing at the summer draws to a close Is an excellent backdrop to the start of the school year My team and I are regularly communication with chancellor banks and his managers This coordination continues throughout our organizations Between my commanding officers, his school principals We share information about corridors that have historically presented challenges And we're going to be out there to ensure that there are no issues We also discuss congregation points where kids like to hang out And we will have a strong presence in those places as well From our patrol officers to our youth coordination officers Our school safety agents and of course our school crossing guards We have a big dedicated team looking out for our kids We will also have increased presence in a transit system keeping watch over our students as they travel to and from school The nypd is also paying close attention to crimes involving kids We will look to see if there's a nexus between larger crime patterns A connection of acts of domestic violence or even truancy at school At the end of the day the goal is always to protect our children Creating environment where they can learn and safety and peace And to that end I want to express my gratitude and respect for our school safety agents They are everyday heroes doing the important work In the schoolyards, in the corners, they are building trust Cultivating relationships and easing tensions before things escalate And as always Technology is key for everything we do Which is why we are working on creating a tip line that will allow folks to share information That we should be aware of regarding schools and the kids Is being built out and will be up and running this fall And also our school safety division is also launching a command center in the coming months It will be an information hub that coordinates all the resources dedicated to the safety of our schools All in all as the school year kicks off You feel very good about the comprehensive plan that we have in place to ensure the protection Of new york city's most precious gifts our children Thank you very much deputy one one final point. I do want to add deputy may if you don't mind A just point of information prior to the pandemic we had 5,063 school safety agents When we came in as this administration, we were down about 2,000 agents Over the course of the pandemic. We have cut that number in half So we're up to about 4100 agents now With another 250 that are going into the next class In october So we'll continue to uh to boost the ranks if you will and for those of you Some of you know that I used to be a school safety agent I worked at claire barton high school in brooklyn prior to becoming a teacher Probably the first chancellor in history that was a school safety agent And uh, it was a point of great pride for me and I understand the great work that they do And that they are they are an essential component to the culture of any successful school Because they they do more than provide safety. They are big brothers. They are big sisters They are aunties and uncles for many of the kids who are in in those schools And uh, they're they're central to everything that we do and I have great great respect for each and every one of them And you just want to just reiterate, you know, I had a compliment uh the commissioner had made a comment and to to the public and he says uh I've been working with you for 20 years. I've never heard you ever give out a compliment Uh And uh, so I started thinking about it. Maybe he probably hasn't heard it because I probably didn't do it but Um, I was part of the merger the school saved the agents and there's a lot a lot of heroes in new york city But I put the school safety agents up there with anyone the amount of work that they do that's remarkable It is they're just it's the challenges they face every day So, uh, I just want to screw save the ages out there to hear from the mayor and to the leadership Of uh, new york city if nobody else appreciates you which I know they do We certainly appreciate you and I just want to say hats off and good luck to a very successful year And and and uh, I think deputy mayor if you recall on the campaign trail There were many who was calling about removing school safety agents from school And I was very clear that was not going to happen if I was the mayor of the city of new york and we did uh, uh approximately I think anywhere from uh, 12 to 13 town hall with young people And the young people there were two top issues at every town hall They wanted their school safety agents and police and they wanted to deal with mental health issues Every town hall we attended with young people across the city with dycd And at mitchell from man up, uh, they talked about the relationship with their police And the relationship with their school safety agents So sometimes those who speak the loudest are speaking for themselves and not those who are impacted by these decisions Those young people want to feel safe in their school and that is what we're providing for them Thank you deputy mayor. We will now take a few on-topic questions from the media related to today's presentations For chancellor brooks. You were talking about banks. I'm sorry You were talking about a safe passage Uh and corridors. So how will these safety corridors be set up because there have been incidents of violence and several incidents of gang violence around schools Um, in france, it leaves that island. So how will that work? And how many will there be? Well, that's sort of a formal process Well, and the police commissioner certainly speak to this as well But this has been part of our communication efforts to target these very specific neighborhoods because this is not something that we're finding It's happening in every school in every school community for sure But where we have seen the highest rates of those incidents, um, there will be a beefed up presence But also that's the places where we're doubling down on our project pivot workers as well to ensure a greater, uh, Safe carter to and from school But what we're also doing is we're reaching out now to more of our parents and our families because we want the community to recognize as well That safety is not just the job of the police department or the school safety agents It is a community responsibility And so we want our parents and our families to also be out there You know when you have schools where you will have parents who not only drop off their child But we'll take an extra few minutes to just be around their their presence alone Uh as a deterrence, uh for nonsense if you will and so, uh, we've identified a number of these schools And we'll be working with the principals as well to begin to drive that down those incidents Uh, I don't have number up top. We can certainly furnish that with your mark of the specifics off of off of those But suffice it to say that it's the schools that we have seen where these great Number of incidents have taken place and we're going to be leaning in a much much more focused way this year as well Hey, how's it going? On the use of drones to monitor activities ahead of jubay in the coming labor day weekend I believe the PD said yesterday that they were going to be sending them in some cases to like barbecues or home parties Um, what to say to people who feel like that's a little more intrusive than You know the police normally operates and you know as opposed to a helicopter these drones could be very close To hear what people are talking about You know, thank you. Um, and of we have to push back on the sci-fi aspects of drones Of no one is going to be up monitoring Of you know, what you're talking about your conversation I uh, there were two occasions that I was just extremely impressed and really Knew we were on the right thing using drones one was at the Washington square park after the Pride parade The park was just reached a point of being just disorderly and dangerous of the commissioners team made the decision to deploy the drones and made a simple announcement that the park is closing You have to leave the park and Watching that park just clear out It was just so impressive that I knew we were on to something the second time We policed this city from the ground Not three-dimensional from the sky and we did not know what was going on ahead of time the washington square the union square park When you saw the young people several thousand took over the park My team was here Watching the activity live while the Chief was on the ground with his team The commissioner was able to see it remotely We were able to see it remotely and we had a view that the Responding units did not have and we were able in real time to communicate with them where the problem spots were What we had to do how we had to close down the streets how we were able to see where dangerous place were It was unbelievable, you know in my entire career Career of being around law enforcement never did I experience that level of firsthand on the ground I didn't have to guess what was taking place I was able to immediately communicate with the chief and his team and my team here and the commissioner We were able to execute. So what we're doing over this weekend There are a number of calls of loud music disruptive Of behavior instead of the police having to respond And uh, look at those they're going to utilize drones from a safe distance up Not down flying in someone's backyard to see what they have on the grill They're going to utilize the drones to determine should they send crisis management teams there right away to help mitigate the problem We don't want police to be the same The only response and we were very clear. I think the chief made it clear. We want people to Enjoy the festivities that that that come with the Western Indian Day Parade in Juve And so we want to utilize this technology to compliment our crisis management team compliment our police personnel and respond appropriately And be able to respond in record time You know a drone could get to a location in 30 40 seconds Where we're going to have crowded streets where police are not going to be able to get there as fast This is a smart excellent tool and I really take my hat off to the police commissioner and how his team particularly uh, assistant commissioner cash door tree They have they traveled around the country looked at other police departments and unfortunately we were not leading We are now going to become the leader and how to properly use our drones Commission, I don't know if I touched on anything if there's anything else you want to touch on it Absolutely. It's been a wonderful thing everybody Like the mayor said is worried about sci-fi now We're using these drones as an extra resource a force multiplier where instance like juve We could we have our 311 calls and they're complaining about noise. We could deploy the drones to see Just might be people having a nice early party So we don't have to deploy so many resources We could have one officer go over there with our partners With a doe go over to check our sound meters and say, you know what? It's perfectly fine And we'll go about our business and they can enjoy their night And that's just what it is for you And one thing on that is just in this for the public about the use of drones and the mayor's push for technology, right? It's going to Compliment the services. We're we're looking at drones now that can when people having a heart attack Can the master's if the drone can get there? Before right not instead of but before we respond to emt and can give some advice to the person who's the non ill person Why would we not explore it? So there's a lot of exploration going on We don't need to be afraid of the unknown or maybe a little bit of a human nature Uh, but we're trying to keep this city as safe as fair as possible And you're going to be seeing a lot of those particular things at the mayor's direction And maybe walk us through a little bit in the event of a strike How does the uber like how does that process work for parents if they want to? The chances give you the update, you know Something's always happening in the city I woke up the other day and I heard that a water main break, you know, I mean this city No, this is an amazing place and the ferry We selling the ferry contract selling over 80 percent of our union contracts Having 90 something ratification on all of these contracts people knew we paid them the right salaries We want to do what's right by bus operators there. They are moving our Children to and from This is you know, it's another day in the city and another incident Issue that we will come to a resolution the resiliency of this city. It always amazes me But I know the chancellor he briefed me this morning. He's deep in this issue with the atu and The vendors and so, you know, you could give them an update on what yeah Well, first of all, I think it's very important to know right that that we are not the direct party involved here What you have is The union the atu Local 1181 is in negotiations with the various bus vendors. We contract with those Vendors and sort of the negotiation is essentially between them We're at the table. We're trying to be as helpful as we can possibly be I'm still hopeful that we will be able to avert a strike But in the in the event that there is a strike, we have already sent out guidance to our families across the city those who We'll be providing metro cards For anyone including for the families as well. So for the students and the families, we should know that what we're talking about with this particular strike Effects problem could potentially affect anywhere from 85 to 90 thousand students Including about 25,000 Students with special needs and these are generally our youngest students. This is not really affecting high school kids Um, so these are our youngest students and you should know as well that these numbers Are inclusive of about 25,000 students who are in charter schools As well So there's not just simply the students who are in our traditional public schools. It's all of all of our students And so we're making available Right share opportunities for for families Including possibilities for families who will drop their child off to school and then have a right chair that will actually get them to work And back We're sorting out the details of who will get that because we can't offer that to everyone But but suffice it to say every family will at least have some form of ability to get to and from school with their child That being said it is going to be a challenge any time you have a strike It will be a challenge and it will be a major major Inconvenience for all of our kids and their families. Uh, so we're doing everything we can to avert it We'll be talking more about the specifics on it when we have the press conference next week Chancellor can you What many people don't realize Bussing is a service we provide, you know, not a mandate We provide this because we believe it's the right thing to do for our children and we're going to continue to do that Absolutely. Yep. And and and the busing Is something that we will continue to do Including we provide these opportunities even for charter school students as well Uh, which some people are a little surprised to hear but that is we look these are all of our kids And all of their families and we're doing everything we can the same way that we provide Food for all of our kids whether they're in traditional public schools or charter schools for anyone who wants it So for any child and family even when the charter schools will looking for these opportunities For transportation. We're doing what we can to provide that as well One of the challenges that we have is a long standing challenge Is that we don't always have enough our bus drivers And that contributes to some of the ongoing Challenges that we face with busing even in the best of times And that's why you know, the the union is working for the best contract that they can possibly get Which will help with the overall recruitment and retention of drivers Um, but but you know, this all has to happen within the fiscal constraints that we all are dealing with So continuing to be at this. They're working around the clock and we're certainly hopeful for a for a good outcome Thank you earlier this week the administration reached out to new yorkers asking them to submit questions for the officials that have joined us here today Since we're running up on time, I will ask two of them very quickly First one is from ashlee minhatten for chancellor banks who asks What steps are being put in place to make sure our children are safe from bullying? I'll say from bullying but you know bullying bullying is a um It's a manifestation oftentimes of Culture within a school itself. I was a principal of two different schools over the course of 11 years and you can have all kinds of mandates from uh, New york city department of education But at the end of the day what matters most is what happens within the four walls of that school And the tone that is set in the culture That is established by the leadership in the school And that's where we will be working very closely. We continue to do that Um, we have specific things that we do when kids are bullied and they're disciplinary repercussions as a result of that But I think if you take a macro view of it, um Kids need to know things like bullying Are not acceptable In that school and schools that are well run That have teachers who are in full alignment And and and a staff that works really closely With the parents and the families They keep issues like bullying to a minimum Um, and because they establish a culture of love And togetherness and and a spirit of of oneness in a school And so that's what we will work to continue to support Um, and we no child should ever feel should ever be bullied Or should ever feel intimidated, uh, at all But we also recognize that sometimes kids themselves can be cruel And and and we have to help the kids who are doing the bullying To understand that that is not acceptable and that they also have to make better choices Um, but all that comes through the leadership And the culture that exists within individual schools and we will continue to work to support that Thank you And our final question comes from Malik in the Bronx for commissioner kaban Who asks how does the role of a school safety agent differ from a regular police officer? And so I think though one of our school safety agents is they're dedicated to the schools They work closely with the Department of Education. They work closely with the kids And that work is crucial to what they do each and every day Yeah, you know and before I depart of I want us all to remember and particularly to the new york city public january 1st 2022 Of this public safety issue was a real crisis And we came at it. Uh, Nat had hazard lead but with a plan No one wanted to be on our subway system Because they were afraid We came up with the subway safety plan partnered with the governor who allocated millions of dollars And appointed a real leader down in the subway system that continued in the past and you see in record levels of decrease in crime We have an over proliferation of guns on our street. We put in place our anti-gun unit Removal probably a total of over 11,000 guns In the my time in office A little over 3,000 this year Target specifically those who are carrying guns And during during the summer we normally Spike in crime as long as I can remember over the summer months It becomes a real problem Where a crime starts to spike We saw just the opposite because of the commissioner's Summer safety plan. We saw crime do something that it historically does not do and that is Decreased, but it was not only about enforcement Added to the subway safety plan we did The summer rising 110,000 children were placed in safe environments full school day Able to provide a real safe atmosphere Added to that 100,000 summer youth jobs partnering with our crisis management team So we did not get here looking at the success Of children and families based on guess work We planned and you saw the plan we rolled it out We announced it to all of you and we told everyone our expectation And we were successful in the plans we put in place And this school year we are continuing that success by rolling out these new plans Because as I say over and over again, uh Public safety injustice is the prerequisite to prosperity And we're going to continue to be the safest big city in america. Thank you Thank you. Thank you all