New York, NY – New York City will spend nearly $20 million next year to pay for unarmed security guards at private and religious schools, despite criticism from outside groups.
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The city council voted 41-4 on Monday in favor of the expenditure, which will reimburse private and religious schools with more than 300 students for expenses related to hiring security personnel.
In a statement, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said, “Students across our city deserve a safe learning environment, no matter what community they come from or where they attend school.”
Various good government and civil rights groups criticized the decision as wasteful and potentially illegal.
“To suggest that these private, sectarian institutions that receive monetary support from their students and private donors should be financially supported by the city as well is not only bad policy, it is an example of unconstitutional government support for religious institutions,” said Johanna Miller, advocacy director at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Councilman David Greenfield, who represents a Brooklyn neighborhood with a large Orthodox Jewish population, said the bill would ensure safety for all children.
“This monumental legislation recognizes that every child, regardless of where they go to school – whether public or private, secular or religious – deserves to learn in a safe environment,” he said in a statement.
Greenfield had originally proposed spending $50 million to have regular public school guards, who are part of the police department, patrol private schools, according to local media reports. The bill, which reimburses schools for the cost of hiring private guards, was the result of a compromise with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.
A waste of money and a terrible precedent. If we think its important enough to send our yinglach to yeshiva, and many readers here on VIN share that belief, then we should be happy to pay a few dollars more for good security which would include armed guards. An unarmed guard hired by the government is not very reassuring.
Unarmed = Ineffective
How are unarmed guards going to be a first line defense against a radicalized semi automatic gun toting Muslim?? Wouldn’t it make more sense to hire a non muslem security guard holding a valid pistol license ?
Can the guards at least be armed with a broomstick or a whistle ?
So lets review this..
Someone armed approaches one of these security guys in front of a school building G…d forbid…Does anyone here think he has a fighting chance to battle it out?
Me thinks not!.
So 20 mil of our tax money for glorified hall monitors? Why, we don’t have enough retired LEOs with carry permits interested in the job?
To spend nearly $20 million to pay for unarmed security guards at private and religious schools sounds as stoooopid as the Obama take on the Middle East. How are unarmed security guards going to stop an attacker?
If a attacker comes in with guns blazing, this unarmed security guard will be the first casualty….
stooopid!
Jobs for freinds and family
Maybe we can get some retired IDF soldiers to visit and moonlight for a term? 😉