Stuyvesant’s Thoughts on New York City and School Safety

“Well, I’ve heard a lot of different things about the recent incidents around Stuy, but I’ve also heard that there has been an increase in threats to the school and call-in threats. I would say, unfortunately, growing up in the city, that’s sort of been part of my whole school career so it doesn’t faze me that much which is, I guess, not very good. I think [the administration is] good at keeping us updated after the fact, but the evacuation two weeks ago where we were just standing outside for an hour and a half, we had no idea what was going on. So I don’t think they handled it very well. But I honestly don’t have a good idea of how they should be handling it.” —Anna Kathawala, senior

“I think that a big part of why I am not worried about my safety after these incidents is because I am not informed of what is taking place until after the incident occurs. Most of the time, the school only reports that a threat was made to the school. The Stuyvesant administration could have handled these school safety concerns better. The fire drill that took place during seventh period which developed into an evacuation for the next hour made many students confused about the situation. It would be great if students could be informed about what is happening.” —Anonymous, senior

“I think as a city, it’s kind of on the DOE [Department of Education] to figure out a better way to prevent these threats. Also just on the government in general particularly regarding guns, because right now, the Supreme Court is essentially saying ‘no’ to a lot of gun laws that New York attempted to pass. It makes it even more scary since the crime rate is already so high.” —Roy Nisson, senior A

“I feel like it’s pretty safe inside school. But maybe not around the school anymore because of all of the accidents and shootings. I commute with a friend now because my parents are kind of paranoid. [For] the last time we had to stand outside the school for an entire period, I didn’t understand why they were taking so long to just figure out if there was something actually wrong with the school. I think they should be able to respond quicker like last year when we had someone call in saying there was a bomb or whatever, and I feel like they responded quicker that time.” —Ana Chen, junior

“I don’t know much of what’s going on with the safety problems at Stuyvesant because every time they e-mail to clarify after an incident, it's just like ‘there was a threat,’ but what were they threatening? The people want to know. Also, the administration should never say something is a drill when it’s not. Because the next time you say something is a drill, people won’t know what to think. We’ve all known that schools are not safe places for a while now. I’m not desensitized because I open my phone every morning to see a million things much worse than anything that’s happened here.” —Ryan Colby, freshman

“So far, the administration has handled these incidents well by contacting the NYPD [New York Police Department] and letting us know of the incidents. I do prefer if they tell us about the incidents a little bit earlier, especially with the day where we were all evacuated outside for an hour. In terms of keeping student safety as their priority, I think that’s definitely something that they’ve really focused on a lot. They’ve definitely increased their security and the police presence, and that makes me feel more safe when I’m in this school. It’s just a bit frightening that people can randomly come into the school because just [on November 22], there was this guy in front of me, and he was a middle-aged man. He had two lighters in his hand, and he walked into the school and almost [would have] got[ten] the test kits if it weren’t for the scanner ladies.” —Karen Chen, junior

“Administration has been handling them the best they can. They have been using the intercom system really extensively. They’ve been emailing the parents. They’ve been emailing us. I’m really glad the principal takes the concerns seriously and addresses them at all. I’m actually surprised how well we’ve been able to follow through with the instructions.” —Andrey Sokolov, senior

“It’s concerning that the most information students get is through rumors and social media posts from other students. The administration leaves us in the dark for a lot of things probably because they don't want any unnecessary hysteria. When we had to stand outside for an entire period, even the staff had no idea what was going on. NYC is pretty crazy but Stuyvesant is tamer than other schools and other places. I’m pretty grateful for that but the amount of threats we have received these past three months alone is concerning.” —Anonymous, senior B