Education
NYC offi cials increasing
random metal detector
use in public schools
High school students line up to get into class in Hell’s Kitchen on March 22,
2021 — which marked the reopening of public high schools amid the COVID-19
pandemic.
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
The city plans on upping the number
of random uses of metal detectors
in public schools in response to a
recent string of violence on campuses.
“We want to make sure that in the tough
moments that we’ve gone through in the last
year and a half that we are protecting our
kids, that we are protecting our schools,”
de Blasio said during a press conference
Monday morning. “We know there are
some schools where there has been some
real safety issues lately and we need to make
sure we are adding extra protection.”
Earlier this month, a 16-year-old Bronx
student stabbed a 17-year-old classmate
three times in a school library prompting
some parents to raise concerns over the
number of school safety offi cers stationed
in schools. Last week, a 14-year-old student
brought a pink handgun to school and
showed it off to other students.
De Blasio did not specify which New
York City public schools would see increased
use in metal detector usage and
instead pledged to reveal “more details” in
the “coming days.”
In addition to the increased screenings,
some public schools will receive school
safety offi cers in order to create 27 “safe
corridors” and neighborhood and youth
coordination NYPD offi cers will be present
at arrival and dismissal.
The full return of students to public
schools this fall also meant the return of
thousands of school safety agents and the
return of the long-standing question over
their place within school communities.
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
According to NYPD Chief Rodney K. Harrison,
who joined the mayor Monday for his
morning press conference, there are about
3,200 school-safety agents at 1,400 school
sites throughout the fi ve boroughs.
Advocates have called for the removal
of police offi cers in schools particularly in
communities of color that are already overpoliced.
When asked on Monday whether
an infl ux of school safety offi cers would
increase tensions between students and
NYPD offi cers de Blasio said that offi cials
would work to conduct scans “in a way that
is respectful and communicative.”
“I see some positive training that goes into
this whole process of scanning with the school
safety agents, but it’s also about relationship
building. I think that’s an important component
that’s being left off the table regarding
the dialogue and discussion regarding having
the school safety agents, making sure that the
students are safe, but also making sure that
there’s a conversation to explain what we’re
doing and why we’re doing it, ” said Harrison.
Mayoral democratic nominee and current
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams
told reporters during a visit to Brooklyn
on Monday that he would would analyze
Blasio’s plan to see if it fi ts his goals for
public schools and suggested using metal
detectors to detect weapons on students was
unnecessary to keep schools safe.
“We don’t need to dehumanize children,
” said Adams. “There’s new technology
out there where you don’t need that visible
presence to detect that fi rearm and we
are going to use that technology to make
schools safer.
Morgan C. Mullings contributed to this
report.
HIGHER ED TODAY
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Researchers from the City University of
New York have developed a device that integrates
indoor navigation with augmented reality
to help emergency responders find their
way through poorly lit, potentially dangerous
spaces to evacuate people in danger.
The group of researchers, composed of
faculty, staff and a graduate student from The
City College of New York, Borough of Manhattan
Community College and the CUNY Office of
Research are currently refining the technology
that one day could save lives. Their invention
will be marketed as a smartphone app, providing
real-time maps and turn-by-turn navigation,
and eliminating the need for the costly
sensors and 3D scanners currently on the market.
The minds behind this exciting project received
training and funding from the National
Science Foundation (NSF) and are the beneficiaries
of CUNY’s decade-long push to provide
academic researchers with the acumen, resources
and networks needed to translate their
inventions into commercially viable ventures.
The thinking is that if CUNY’s brightest
scholars in the sciences, engineering and tech
can produce breakthroughs that address realworld
problems, their discoveries will have
multiple benefits — diversifying the STEM
workforce, establishing new pathways to employment
for our graduates and in turn, driving
a more equitable, inclusive economy.
CUNY’s focus on leveraging the creativity
of its research community can be seen in an array
of new university programs that advance
these goals to the benefit of society and our region’s
economic development.
City College recently won a $750,000 “Build
to Scale” grant from the U.S. Economic Development
Administration (EDA) to fund the
creation of the Center for Co-Innovation and
Medical Technology, which seeks to translate
product concepts to the marketplace through
the development of medical technologies that
address unmet clinical needs. The project,
which will bring many new STEM-related jobs
to Harlem, will also receive $750,000 in local
matching funds from City College and a philanthropic
donor.
The same enterprising spirit can be seen in
the Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s summer
announcement to bring its Blackstone
LaunchPad entrepreneurship and skill-building
program to nine CUNY colleges, a $6 million
commitment to support career mobility.
Students will receive resources and guidance
to expand their mentorship networks, enabling
them to pursue job opportunities and create
their own start-ups.
Leading the Push
And notably, starting in January, CUNY
will oversee the New York Region Innovation
Corps (I-Corps) Hub, an exciting, $15 million
federally-funded program established by the
NSF to provide entrepreneurial training and
mentoring to diverse academic researchers.
The award is the largest the NSF has ever conferred
to CUNY and will allow these inventors
to develop their scientific and engineering discoveries
into products and build the enterprises
needed to bring them into the marketplace.
The New York Region I-Corps Hub has a related
objective: giving our brightest minds the
guidance they need to bring their innovations
out of the laboratory and into the marketplace.
Through it, CUNY will lead a consortium
of eight local colleges that includes Columbia
University and New York University, which
will work together to identify product opportunities
and spearhead the creation of student-
and faculty-run startups that address realworld
concerns.
Working in teams, guided by industry professionals
and buoyed by seed money from the
NSF, faculty and student researchers will work
to identify promising product opportunities
and form start-up ventures to commercialize
them. CUNY will oversee approximately 30 ICorps
teams after the program launches.
The I-Corps Hub will enable faculty and
graduate student researchers like those who
produced the indoor navigation system to
sharpen their technological discovery, scale
its production and bring it to market. Their experience
illustrates the I-Corps program’s immense
value.
Initially, they conceived the technology as
a tool to help the blind and visually impaired,
but a seven-week I-Corps workshop last spring
guided them through a rigorous process of customer
discovery, which showed a limited market
for such a product. Through more than 100
interviews with architects, building managers,
construction workers and firefighters, however,
they determined their product could fill a great
need for safe navigation by emergency responders.
The inventors adapted the technology and
it is being piloted at 10 sites across New York
State. They are now seeking a patent.
It’s a great example of our work to harness
the ingenuity of CUNY’s community, and to expand
access and support for entrepreneurs at
a time when their innovations can be vital to
our region’s pandemic recovery and long-term
growth.
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12 October 28, 2021 SScchhnneeppss MMeeddiiaa