Mona Davids of the NYC Parents Union said she was pleased the council is finally taking up the measure.
“Council Speaker [Mark-]Viverito has to stop acting like her predecessor, Christine Quinn. Avonte’s Law needs to be brought up for a vote,” Davids said.
The City Council will finally hold a public hearing on a bill that would require alarms on the exit doors of public schools to prevent tragedies such as the disappearance and death of Avonte Oquendo.
The June 12 hearing was announced just hours after The Post reported that the council’s Education Committee was dragging its feet in taking up “Avonte’s Law” — despite support from 46 of the 51 council members and all major parent groups.
The de Blasio administration had raised objections to the measure, and some reps from the teachers union had expressed misgivings.
Brooklyn Councilman Robert Cornegy, who introduced the bill March 12, welcomed the hearing.
“We’re excited about this opportunity, which has been long awaited,” said Cornegy, who has five children in public school and is the bill’s chief author.
“I wasn’t just thinking as a legislator. I was thinking first as a parent. I was extremely frustrated for the parents. I promised I would do something for them.”
Avonte, 14, who was autistic, slipped out of a side door at his school in Long Island City, Queens, undetected in October and was missing until he was found dead in January.
Since then, at least seven other students, some as young as 4, have walked out of their school buildings.
Should the measure become law, alarms, each costing about $160, would be installed in school buildings housing 600,000 elementary and special-education students.
The total price is expected to come in at between $1 million and $1.5 million, which Cornegy said would be money well spent.
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito supports the concept of school-exit alarms and believes hearings will help determine the best solutions — in concert with the de Blasio administration — in addressing student safety, an aide said.
Mark-Viverito’s office insisted the council had not deliberately delayed action.
Mona Davids of the NYC Parents Union said she was pleased the council is finally taking up the measure.
“Council Speaker [Mark-]Viverito has to stop acting like her predecessor, Christine Quinn. Avonte’s Law needs to be brought up for a vote,” Davids said.
In earlier budget testimony, Deputy Schools Chancellor Kathleen Grimm said, “I don’t think the Department [of Education] is going to support that bill . . . We do not think it’s a prudent use of funds to do every single door.”
The mayor’s office and the department put out more positive statements that stopped short of endorsing the bill.
“Ensuring that our school entrances are secure and our schools are safe are, of course, priorities for the administration,” said a mayoral spokesman, Wiley Norvell.
https://nypost.com/2014/05/28/city-council-schedules-hearing-on-avontes-law-school-exit-alarms/