Parents and activists are pleading for school safety agents to stay in public schools and be kept under the jurisdiction of the NYPD, and not the Department of Education.

They are concerned with rising crime and gang violence in schools as recent calls have come to defund the police and remove the uniformed school safety agents.

Students spoke out to recall instances of bullying and violence they faced from their peers.

Mona Davids, of the New York City School Safety Coalition, says there were school safety agents there for her when she was hurt.

“Although, school safety agents are under the purview of the NYPD so they are trained in de-escalation techniques, hard and soft lockdowns and even dealing with students who have behavioral issues,” Davids says.

School safety agents are currently trained by the NYPD, but they were once under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education, which the department says is set to happen again starting June 2022.

In a statement, the Department of Education told News 12 in part: “We are bringing our current staff of SSAS back to the Department of Education as part of our goal to provide students with complete safety.”