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NYPD to Meet with Parents Amid String of Robberies Targeting Young Victims

By Leslie Albrecht | February 5, 2016 12:33pm | Updated on February 9, 2016 10:38am
 M.S. 51 in Park Slope, where parent-teacher conferences are limited to three minutes each.
M.S. 51 in Park Slope, where parent-teacher conferences are limited to three minutes each.
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DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht

UPDATE Feb. 9, 2016: M.S. 51 announced Monday that representatives from the 78th Precinct would no longer be able to attend Wednesday's meeting. The parent association still plans to have a discussion about safety outside of school hours, and parents are also encouraged to attend the next meeting of the 78th Precinct Community Council on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the precinct, 65 Sixth Ave.

PARK SLOPE — Local police will visit a middle school Wednesday to answer parents' questions about street safety amid a series of recent robberies involving victims as young as 11.

Police from the 78th Precinct will attend a Q&A session with M.S. 51's parent association Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting, which is open only to M.S. 51 families, was planned a couple of months ago, but the topic is timely because of a rash of muggings targeting teens and tweens, said M.S. 51 principal Lenore Berner.

"I think parents are a bit on edge and I hope interfacing with the police will help reduce anxiety," Berner said.

A 12-year-old was shoved to the ground and his iPhone was stolen near the school Feb. 1, an 11-year-old was robbed of his phone in December on Sixth Avenue and Sterling Place and a 15-year-old and 16-year-old were mugged at gunpoint Jan. 28 on 14th Street near Prospect Park West.

Police from the 78th Precinct visit M.S. 51 yearly to talk to the school's 1,100 students about street smarts, park safety, Vision Zero and pedestrian/bike safety and to introduce the NYPD’s Explorers program, Berner said.

"We thought we should have [the police] do the same thing, but for parents, because children don't always communicate everything they hear at school to their parents," said parent association co-president Danielle Kolker.

"It's easy to think we live in Mayberry, so we wanted to bring what the kids were hearing to the parents."

The meeting was prompted in part by "a number of incidents — bullying, intimidation, theft and more — in and around Washington Park and in the nexus of our students’ commutes/travels," the parent association wrote in an announcement to the school community.

Parents are encouraged to send their questions and concerns in advance to middleschool51pa@gmail.com.

► RELATED: MAP: Bullying at Park Slope Schools Mapped By Student Reports