jurisdictional switch, these two lists did not mesh. Anytime an ambulance
was called to the school, the SSAs reported this as an incident, even if the
problem was an illness (such as an asthma attack) or sports-related injury
(such as an ankle sprain). The assistant principal of security did not report
these as they were not security issues.
To prevent any recurrence of discrepancies in reportage, Mr. Chen had
the assistant principal of security and the supervising SSA meet at the
end of each day to make sure they were reporting the same “incidents” to
their respective offices. As any ambulance call was considered an incident
by NYPD, the school would also consider it an incident to report to the
superintendent’s office. (This is a simplification. The city department of
education [DOE] had different forms for different types of incidents, lead-
ing to confusion. It was not until the new millennium that the DOE settled
on one form to be used for all incidents, security, health-related, and so
on, making Mr. Chen’s and all principals’ lives easier.)
The school leader also needs to have some procedures for working with
its security staff and the local authorities. In his own mind, Mr. Chen had
some commonsense principles for his school to work well with the SSAs
and the NYPD:
- School personnel need to respect the abilities of the SSAs. They are
trained observers and know well which students are the most prob-
lematic. They watch students as they enter, homing in on those with
a history of disciplinary problems. They know what they are wearing
and what they carry, and could find them if they fit the description of
students involved in an incident. - The SSAs are the confidants of some students and thus the recipients of
useful information. They are trained in seeing the early signs of gang
activity and in discovering the latest graffiti artist. They are excellent at
defusing volatile situations. - The supervising SSA serves on the Security Committee, and he and his
agents are involved in decisions relating to security matters, such as
patrol assignments. - Because of the potential for incidents in and near the lunch room, SSAs
patrol this area frequently during the lunch periods. - School policy requires that anyone renting school facilities after school
hours or on weekends must bear the cost of overtime for at least two
156 Chapter 11