When we hear that more than 2,500 kids were given a safety transfer from their schools last year, we know that the number that wanted to leave the public school that they were in is much, much larger. Reports to parentadvocates from all across New York City show that children are being beaten up, bullied, and harassed without the Principal's intervention. The 'new' anti-violence campaign has, by all accounts, been a paper tiger, and has not been implemented adequately. Something else must be done.

SCARED KIDS FLEE SCHOOLS
By CARL CAMPANILE, NY POST, August 23, 2004

More than 2,500 city students fled their public schools last year out of fear for their safety, The Post has learned.

The Department of Education approved "safety transfers" for 2,540 students from September through June because they were beaten, bullied and threatened by classmates.

The information  obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request  represents the first time that education officials have collected citywide data on safety transfers for an entire school year.

Schools in Region 9 taking in much of Manhattan and part of the South Bronx led the city with 343 transfers.

The figure didn't surprise staffers and students at Washington Irving HS in the Gramercy Park district, part of Region 9. Irving landed on Mayor Bloomberg's list of most dangerous schools following a rash of violent incidents last fall.

About 50 students requested safety transfers out of Irving in the fall term, said Greg Lundahl, the school's teachers- union representative.

The number of requested transfers dropped significantly after the mayor bolstered security measures and booted troublemakers, he said.

Officials in Region 6 in south Brooklyn approved 129 safety transfers  just for the month of September. The region includes a handful of schools that landed on the mayor's most dangerous list  including South Shore HS, Sheepshead Bay HS and Canarsie HS.

The Post campaign on school safety this year found numerous student victims who requested safety transfers during the past academic year, and even during the summer session.

Rose DePinto, a top aide to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, said the number of safety transfers is one of the indicators that help officials determine whether there is order or disorder in a school.

"Schools have to be safe for teaching and learning to go on." DePinto said.

While it is important to help victims, DePinto said the Bloomberg administration has taken aggressive action to prevent violence and bullying in the first place.

She noted the department has reassigned violent and disruptive students from regular schools into more than a dozen alternative sites and suspension centers.

Some education watchdogs said the number of safety transfers was alarming  and the worst part is that the problem is probably understated.

"If the transfer policy was widely known, the number of transfers would skyrocket," said City Council Education Committee Chairwoman Eva Moskowitz (D-Manhattan).

The city has about 1,300 schools  meaning an average of two students obtained a safety transfer for each one.

Teachers-union president Randi Weingarten said the transfer statistics show that violence is not limited to the 18 schools that the mayor has flooded with additional police and support.

"The fact that thousands of our kids are so fearful for their personal safety shows that school security is an issue that the administration has to constantly keep its focus on  not just in a few schools but all over the system," she said.