Riverdale-area school safety agents join citywide push for higher wages | The Riverdale Press | #schoolsaftey #kids #parents #children

by Olivia Young

More than 100 school safety agents serving the greater Riverdale area and New York City at large are advocating for higher pay and better working conditions. They are calling on their labor union, Teamsters Local 237, and the New York Police Department to better advocate on agents’ behalf, organizers said.

The movement, named “Make School Safety Great Again,” held a rally June 19, where organizers said over 100 agents walked Lower Manhattan’s streets until reaching the steps of City Hall, holding signs that read “New union, new contract,” and “We deserve more,” to name a few. In addition to improved wages, organizers want more agents to be hired, saying that staffing shortages lead to unsafe situations and excessive overtime.

Sgt. Wiener Denizard, a 30-year agent who serves at John F. Kennedy High School and other locations, said he got into the field to protect students and faculty. But the job is getting worse every day, he said

“We protect the most valuable commodity in the world — which is tomorrow’s future,” Denizard said. “We protect the kids. And there’s no way to protect us.”

Teamsters Local 237 represents nearly 24,000 New York City and Suffolk County-based municipal workers in public housing, public hospitals and law enforcement, according to the union’s website. It is the largest local branch of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Teamsters Local 237 declined to comment, and the NYPD did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Organizers have another rally planned for Sept. 5, where they aim to walk to Teamsters Local 237’s office near Union Square.

According to the NYPD website, school safety agents are responsible for patrolling, operating scanning equipment and verifying the identity of visitors in public schools. Agents are also  trained to respond to children in emotional crisis and de-escalate situations between students, staff or parents. They are civilian employees of the NYPD, and do not carry firearms, according to the department. Agents do wear a bulletproof vest, and have velcro and metal handcuffs, organizers said.

The city has more than 3,600 school safety agents, according to NYPD data from the 2024 to 2025 academic year. This number has dropped since 2020, when the department had 5,000 school safety agents, according to the New York City Independent Budget Office.

An agent’s starting salary is $36,955, and reaches $53,264 after five years of service, according to the NYPD website. If promoted to supervisor, an agent can make $74,344.

Denizard said he is part of the special services unit. This is a unit that isn’t assigned to a single campus, but is instead deployed as needed to schools, parades, marathons, concerts and other events, Denizard said. Young people seem to be leaving at an increasing rate for better-paying positions, he added.

“We are overworked and underpaid,” Denizard said.

Another agent, Sgt. Wilson Nin, who works in the South Bronx, is one of a few that are spearheading the Make School Safety Great Again movement. After more than two decades working in school safety, Nin said there is little room for job growth compared to other fields. He pointed to the city’s department of corrections, where the minimum salary for an officer is $54,562, and can reach up to $105,146, according to the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services. 

“We deal with arrests, we deal with patrol, we deal with report writing, we deal with visitors, we deal with kids,” Nin said. “Everything that a cop does, we do, just with no handgun.”

Sgt. Edgar Romero, who is part of a mobile task force that supports agents in the Bronx, also played a key role in organizing. The movement started last year as just talk between himself, Wilson and other agents, before they said “enough is enough,” he said. 

Romero said there is a misconception school safety agents “just babysit,” sitting at a desk all day signing in parents. But agents are making arrests, confiscating weapons and de-escalating violence, he said.

“People need to see that we’re not only agents — we’re guidance counselors, we’re protectors, sometimes we’re father and mother figures,” said Romero.

Nin said he reached out to the NYPD and Teamsters Local 237 multiple times since the start of the year, detailing concerns, and said so far nothing has come of it. Organizers said the agents’ contract is up next December, and they hope for change before then.