Removing police from schools and replacing them with counselors, social workers, and restorative justice programs.
Defunding the School-to-Prison Pipeline at its Source
The presence of police in New York City public schoolsSchool Safety Agents and armed NYPD officershas been a direct feeder of the school-to-prison pipeline, criminalizing typical adolescent behavior and disproportionately targeting Black and Brown students. Zhoran Mamdanis policy is to completely sever the NYPDs contract with the Department of Education and abolish the role of School Safety Agents. The hundreds of millions spent on policing schools would be reallocated to fund an army of counselors, social workers, psychologists, and restorative justice coordinators. The goal is to transform school climate from one of surveillance and punishment to one of support and healing.
Under this plan, each school would have a multi-disciplinary Student Support Team trained in trauma-informed practices, conflict mediation, and mental health first aid. Discipline would be handled through restorative circles and peer mediation, not suspensions or arrests. The physical environment would change too: metal detectors would be removed, and school entrances would be redesigned to feel welcoming, not like a security checkpoint. For genuine safety concerns, schools would have access to the citys Crisis Responder Corps, not the police. Mamdani argues that students cannot learn if they feel like suspects in their own schools, and that true safety comes from addressing the social and emotional needs that underlie behavioral issues.
A police officer in a school is a symbol of failurea failure to educate, to support, to nurture, Mamdani states. We are telling children, especially children of color, that we see them as a threat before we see them as a learner. That ends under my administration. We will replace badges with books, handcuffs with healing. We will invest in the adults who can build relationships and address root causes, not in armed personnel who escalate conflicts. Defunding the school-to-prison pipeline means funding the school-to-possibility pipeline instead.
