Queens parents and politicians are begging the city Department of Education to lock the front doors of city schools after an “emotionally disturbed person” entered PS 28 in Corona and had to be wrestled by staffers, including the principal.
“The fact that a deranged individual managed to get into a Queens elementary school through an open front door is frightening to parents throughout the district,” City Councilman Robert Holden said in a letter to Chancellor David Banks.
The delayed NYPD response to 911 calls —parents say cops took 19 minutes to arrive at the Thomas Emanuel Early Childhood Center — “only reinforces the notion that schools must be locked,” Holden wrote, citing the massacres at Sandy Hook Elementary and Uvalde, Tex.
Also sounding alarms: Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. “is aware of what occurred at PS 28 and our office is actively looking into the incident,” a spokesman said.
PS 28 Principal Robert Quintana, who practices jiu-jitsu, joined several staffers in a frantic struggle to restrain an 18-year-old who got in the front door and ran into an elevator leading to classrooms. Safety agent Natalia Podolskaya, who suffered knee injuries, finally handcuffed the intruder.
“Luckily, there was no weapon involved this time. Next time there could be,” the local Community Education Council president, Matthew Crescio, said at a meeting following the Sept. 15 incident.
An NYPD spokesman told The Post it responded to a 911 call from the school at 1:48 p.m. Two other school safety agents arrived “approximately three minutes later” and found the intruder in handcuffs. Eleven minutes later, the NYPD said, officers from the nearby 110th Precinct arrived and took the teen, who was not arrested, to a city hospital for evaluation.
All DOE school building doors must be locked — except the front doors. They remain open in case of an emergency and should be staffed by an unarmed safety agent, said spokesman Nathaniel Styer.
Among other safety measures under study, the DOE is “exploring the use of technology,” such as a buzzer-system to screen visitors and restrict entry, he said.