~ Chapter - 58 ~ Part 2 ~

Chapter 58 ~ School Safety Officer (Agent) ~ Part 2 ~ For Part 1 click on this link http://www.americantorque.com/page/0/2553/

~ In order to give this chapter a more school sound and appearance please click on the first video below before reading ~ Thank You Very Much ~

I was new on the job ! I had retired from MetLife and wanted something else to keep me busy ~ City Jobs were pretty permanent and had good benefits I thought to myself ~ This was with the Board of Education Department ~ After training a month in a school on 6th street in Manhattan in a small location known as "Alphabet City " I was ready for a school location I thought, but first they sent me to Fort Hamilton Junior High School in Brooklyn for one week ~ At that age I had forgotten how crazy and hyper kids can be but managed to get through it somehow ~ I passed with good grades and lucky to get a Staten Island location as all new safety trainees were sent to other boroughs for their first assignment ~ It seems like the tables had turned and since Staten Island was low in new trainees luck was on my side ~

I was sent to a location in New Dorp, Staten Island at a New Dorp High School but later changed their name to Staten Island Tech High School ~ It was like a reception school for all new recruits ~ We all met our senior commander in chief and were waiting for our next and more permanent assignment when the man in charge yelled out, "Who lives on the South Shore?" I slowly raised my hand with no others doing the same and he said "Come with Me"

Next thing I knew was that we were in his car and driving about 6 or 7 miles to a school known as Anex D to PS 25A Mount Loretta that went through all grades all the way up to High School ~ I met Frank who was the resident School Safety Officer at that time ~ I also met the School Assistant Principal George Hunold that seemed like a decent guy ~ Slowly but surely I got to meet all the students that many were autistic and with various other problems too and were known as "Special Ed Students ~

I liked the Students and over time they became very friendly towards me ~ At the time there were some 'butt heading' including with Frank too but in time we all got to understand each other and got along well enough ~ Three years had passed with all kinds of minor problems and I had to make my first arrest of a young girl about 16 years old that assaulted a Special Ed Assistant to a teacher but I managed to get her released to her Social Workers ~

One day a School Safety Lieutenant Showed up at the school and said that it was necessary for me to now report to Mount Loretta on a permenant assignment and bases ~ I was not too happy with this assignment as I had become comfortable with this School and the Special Ed Students in attendance but the next day, off I went to the new School ~ I knew that the students at this school were more orphans than with parents and had less guidance so it was going to be a tougher assignment ~

After meeting with the staff my first post was to be in the Gym ~ On the way to the Gym Class I noticed one student having another student in a headlock ~ I assumed this was normal in this school as they were not acting in a fashion that they were actually fighting ~ When I reached the Gym a student came running up to me and said that another student was fighting with one of his friends ~ I ignored what he said as I could not see these two students and I assumed that the class instructor would handle the matter ~ Wrong on that decision as the student being picked on was bleeding from the mouth as he passed by me and I felted pretty bad about that one ~

The bell rang meaning that the students had to go to their other assigned classes ~ I too was headed to my new post and walked passed a classroom where the door was open ~ As I walked by I noticed that kid again that had another student in a headlock and he was doing it again with another student ~ From my recent Gym experience I decided to walk into the classroom with its opened door and noticed a teacher standing at her desk doing nothing with the kid in the headlock ~ I walked over to the student telling him at the same time to release the kid that he had in a headlock ~ He completely ignored what I said to him and kept the boy in a choke hold ~ I slowly walked over to him and started to pull his hands off of the other student when he turned and gave me a PUSH ~ I yelled out to him that a student does not PUSH a School Safety Officer ~ He than looked at me and grabbed me into a Bear Hug ~ I slowly tried to get him off of me without causing him any injury but was unable to get him to release me ~ I was thinking how do I get him off of me without doing him any harm when a Special Ed Assistant came into the classroom to help me get the student off of me ~ With the two of us this should be a Piece of Cake I thought to myself but the boy had tremendous strength and it was very difficult to get him to release me ~ Again slowly we both were able to bring him down to the ground without hurting him and he yelled at me that, "he was going to get me" ~ We told him after a few minutes that if he stopped struggling we would let him get up ~ We slowly walked him over to the hallway and faced him to the wall ~ With the thought in my mind that he was going to get me I decided to have him arrested by another Safety Officer ~ The NYPD Police were called in and they took him to the 123 Pct ~ An Ambulance came to the school and took me to the Hospital ~ They took my blood pressure and it was very very high ~

After this occurrence it was filling out forms, speaking to other assigned School Safety Officers and going to Court and Workmen Comp Hearings along with seeing Medical Doctors ~ I was out on disability for about 6 months with bruised ribs ~ When my ribs healed I was than told that I could return to work ~ Also upon returning to work I was told that the boy although being only 16 years old was the strongest student in the school as he was a weightlifter ~ I was also told that the young boy said that I had punched him but the teacher that was in the classroom was the witness that I needed and said that, that never happened ~

Sometime in the mid '90s Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani made School Safety a part of the NYPD and had the name "School Safety Officer" Changed to "School Safety Agent" and the training was done by the Police Department and no longer by The Board of Education ~ The arm patch was also changed to resemble the NYPD patch ~

I'm Certainly glad that I stuck it out as like I said, "City Jobs are pretty Permanent and the Benefits are Great even after 10 years of active duty and than retirement " lol

Nick Mondelli ~ January 4, 2017