NEW YORK -- The latest New York Police Department data shows New York City Schools are safer than ever, but black and Latino students are still disproportionately subject to police actions.

School crime hit a record low in the second quarter of 2016, and fewer students were arrested overall. But Dawn Yuster, school justice project director at Advocates for Children of New York, said the vast majority of those involved with police while in school were students of color.

"New York City needs to develop and implement a long-overdue strategy plan to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, in which black and Hispanic students are disproportionately arrested, handcuffed, issued summonses and suspended from school,” Yuster said.

Advocates for Children is asking the city to revise the Memorandum of Understanding between the NYPD and the Department of Education to decriminalize student misbehavior by clearly delineating the roles of school administrators and police.

According to Yuster, students as young as 16 are issued summonses to appear in court for minor misbehavior that isn't criminal.

"Matters that should be handled by the school as school disciplinary matters but are essentially being handled by members of the police force,” she said.

The result, she said, is that students miss school to appear in court, and if they don't, a bench warrant for their arrest may be issued, even though the alleged offense wasn't a crime.

In July, a mayoral task force issued a report with recommendations to address racial disparities and reduce arrests. And Yuster noted that schools already are required to have plans and teams trained to deescalate situations involving students in emotional crisis.

"Unfortunately, what we have seen from our extensive work with families on the ground is that schools just have not been getting the training that they need, and that they're required to get,” Yuster said.

She said many other school systems have successfully implemented school arrest diversion programs.



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Nearly 22,000 Florida college students could lose critical tuition help under a state House budget proposal.

The plan would cut $3,500 annual grants for students at 15 private schools throughout the state, including three historically Black universities and Embry-Riddle, the nation's top civilian flight school.

House lawmakers tied eligibility for Florida's Effective Access to Student Education (EASE) program to five performance metrics, including a 54% graduation rate and affordability benchmarks.

Bob Boyd, president of Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida, warned of fallout.

"It's going to really devastate our sector," he said. "These are students pursuing nursing degrees, becoming pilots, teachers, and they are going to - a lot of them will drop out of their high-demand degree fields because they're not getting this voucher."

House leaders have said their new performance metrics ensure accountability - affecting just 1.2% of Florida's higher-ed students. But Boyd noted that his schools produce 30% of Florida's nurses while getting just 2% of state funding.

Keiser University Vice Chancellor Belinda Keiser said the cuts would hit non-traditional students hardest - working adults, single parents and first-generation college-goers who rely on these grants.

"Thirty-five hundred dollars a year over the next four years will be taken away," she said. "That might cause some of those students pursuing nursing, pursuing Homeland Security, pursuing cyber - and we offer all those degrees - to drop out. And to me, talent should always be one of your best investments."

The Senate's budget fully funds EASE without new metrics, setting up a clash in the conference committee. Lawmakers must reach a deal by April 29 to allow the constitutionally required 72-hour budget review before the May legislative deadline.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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Registration is open for the next information session for the Doswell School of Aeronautical Sciences at Texas Woman's University in Denton, where students accepted into the program will study to earn their pilot's license.

The school is the only woman-focused university nationwide with a professional pilot's program.

Clinton Grant, director of the school, explained the program.

"Once they go through all of the steps to get into the program and the semester starts within a week or so they're in an airplane flying," Grant noted. "It's not something they have to wait later as their junior (or) senior years before they get into it. We start them as quickly as we can. So it's a lot of fun."

The program is limited to 25 students in the fall and spring semesters. The next information session is April 11.

During the information session, Grant pointed out he tries to weed out the students who may not be serious about becoming a pilot. In addition to tuition and fees the cost of flight training could exceed over $100,000 and it can take up to seven years to earn a pilot's license.

"Most flight students, they'll become flight instructors," Grant observed. "They turn around and start teaching students to fly and that's how they build their hours. And then once they reach a certain amount of hours they'll be eligible to be employed by a regional carrier."

The aeronauts program is still in its infancy. The first classes were held in the fall of 2024. Grant added as they grow, they will have more options for students.

"We're going to get into some of the air mobility things as well as operations management or aviation management," Grant outlined. "There's a demand in the area for that. So, we will be heading in that direction next."

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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A strike set to begin today has been averted at Western Michigan University, Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine, known as WMed.

Its resident physicians reached a tentative deal with the medical school last week.

For nearly eight months, about 200 residents and fellows had been negotiating for improvements in working conditions, including higher salaries and stipends, and more time off.

Mitchell Batchelder - an organizer and field representative with the Resident and Fellow Alliance, the union representing the residents - said the strike notice seemed to prompt a greater willingness from WMed management to reach an agreement.

He emphasized several key aspects of the deal.

"They secured a three-year contract with guaranteed wage increases in each year," said Batchelder. "They got a meal stipend - you know, they're working 24-hour shifts and they need access to fresh, healthy food in order to bring their best while they're working those 24 hours."

He added that the agreement marks a historic milestone as the first private-sector medical resident contract in the state of Michigan.

Batchelder also stressed the impact such a contract could have on W-Med's future, as well as the community.

With this agreement in place, he predicted the institution will not only retain its current top-tier residents, but also attract new talent.

"From a long-term perspective, for these hospitals in Kalamazoo and for the community, this is a really, really great thing," said Batchelder. "Because it can be really hard sometimes to retain and attract qualified health care professionals. And I think this allows them to have an even stronger pitch to those folks."

Batchelder said he believed this private sector deal could also have a significant national impact on unions and labor laws - highlighting what he describes as the imbalance in current regulations.

He noted that many U.S. labor laws are structured in a way that tends to favor employers.



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