Below is the testimony of Rasheedah Brown-Harris, a Bronx parent leader, against the recent rash of bills introduced in the City Council to limit the rights of protesters by creating perimeters around schools and churches, at a distance determined by the NYPD, and providing more city funding to reimburse private and charter schools for the cost of video surveillance cameras. Here is an article about recent hearings on these bills, here is a piece about how University faculty unions and the New York Civil Liberties Union opposition to these bills.
SUBJECT: Opposition TO ALL BILLS:
My name is Rasheedah Brown-Harris, and I am submitting my written testimony in opposition to the proposed legislation that would create police-enforced perimeters around every entrance and exit of educational facilities across New York City.
Student safety is a shared priority. However, this bill raises significant concerns about constitutional rights, civil liberties, and the disproportionate impact of expanded policing on Black and Brown communities.
Schools have always been spaces where civic engagement happens, where families gather, where students speak out, and where communities advocate. Creating fixed police perimeters triggered by broadly defined terms like “intimidation” or “interference” risks restricting lawful protest on public sidewalks and streets. In a city shaped by student activism, from our public high schools to CUNY and Columbia, this approach could chill protected expression.
This legislation also grants sweeping discretion to law enforcement to determine where and when these perimeters are imposed, without clear transparency or oversight. In a city with well-documented racial disparities in policing, expanding discretionary enforcement near schools will not land neutrally. Students of color already experience disproportionate discipline and surveillance. Extending police authority beyond school doors risks deepening those inequities.
Parents, caregivers, faith leaders, and community members regularly gather outside schools to support students and advocate for change. Turning those spaces into controlled police zones will create fear, particularly for immigrant families and those with prior harmful experiences with law enforcement.
Real safety comes from investment in mental health supports, restorative practices, and community-accountable safety strategies. Broad police perimeters are a blunt instrument. They risk suppressing lawful expression without clear evidence that they will improve safety.
If illegal actions are taking place in a house of worship we should be able to gather near peacefully in opposition of such actions.
We should NOT be reimbursing private schools for their security cost. The private schools are private and should use their own private funding.
We should build and support existing platforms that already exist to report hate crimes and discriminatory practices.
We should also, build, support and expand existing platforms, and orgs who are already in existence to help youth learn about social media and internet use and put the proper structures in place to support the youth and community versus just print outs.
I urge the Council to reject all these bills to pursue solutions that protect students, community members, places of worship, education facilities, etc. while safeguarding civil liberties and advancing racial equity for all.
Thank You!
Rasheedah Brown-Harris
