School-safety agents arrested 63 students in public schools between July and September — an average of about one a day, according to NYPD data revealed yesterday.
The collars, required to be made public under a law enacted this year, were for violations ranging from disorderly conduct to felony assault.
Most were 15 or older, but more than a dozen were 12 to 14.
And 94 percent were black or Latino — though they make up just 70 percent of the city’s public-school students, according to data posted online yesterday by the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“If the Bloomberg administration is truly serious about closing the [racial] achievement gap, [it] must focus on educating children, not arresting them,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman.
The NYPD noted that the span largely covered summer school, when the student population and the number of incidents differ from the regular school year. In fact, it said, school crime has been reduced by 40 percent since 2000.
City Council Public Safety Committee Chair Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) noted that 37 arrests involved crimes like weapon possession and assault and said, “I’d rather police officers be handling those than guidance counselors.”
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the city was examining racial and ethnic disparities in arrest and student-suspension rates.