Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has quietly reinstated a new class of school safety agents — but at half the previous size — following blowback over its abrupt decision to nix the hire due to budget concerns, The Post has learned.
About 120 agents will be trained at the Police Academy in the coming weeks in a reversal from City Hall, which was facing heat from parents and pols over the planned cuts to the NYPD schools unit, sources said.
The previously-planned class of 250 agents was canceled in late October as part of the first round of 5% budget cuts to help offset the ballooning bill that has come with taking care of tens of thousands of migrants in New York City.
The school safety team has been one of the hardes-hit units in the NYPD since 2020, with the mass exodus of civilian and uninformed workers in the department.
Just over 3,900 agents are currently on the NYPD payroll, down nearly a quarter from pre-pandemic levels.
It was not clear when the new class would begin the 17-week training program.
City Hall did not return calls for comment Wednesday.
Recent acts of violence have rocked the city’s school system — including on Wednesday when a 12-year-old girl was slashed in the leg by a fellow student in a classroom at their Bronx junior high.
Just a day prior, a 15-year-old boy was stabbed in the stomach, also by a fellow student, in a hallway at their Brooklyn high school.
Both injured kids were expected to survive.
Last month, an anti-Israel riot broke out at Queens’ Hillcrest High School, with hundreds of students storming the halls, targeting a teacher who attended a pro-Israel demonstration.
The teacher who was targeted did not return to school for days after the incident.
A week prior, four kids at Hillcrest allegedly attacked school safety agents when they tried to break up a fight.
Teachers told Schools Chancellor David Banks behind closed doors they did not feel safe before he tried to reassure parents and educators.
The student violence has even caused some teachers to call it quits, The Post reported Wednesday.
One veteran educator who just retired called the situation in city schools “scary.”