Albany High Security and Safety Concerns

A CBS 6 investigation in the works for months unveils what one Albany High Employee claims is really going on inside the school.

"there has been teachers assaulted, hall monitors assaulted, security staff assaulted, nobody seems to really care"

To protect his safety and job we chose to disguise this employees appearence and voice.

"many people would be shocked and appalled that i'm speaking out but I'm shocked and appalled about what's happening inside the school"

This employee says what's happening is violence is out of control.

"we have eleven different affiliated gangs in the school, very violent. You know you see the streets after school hours"

Back in September the violence did spill out in the streets.

Our photographer caught pictures of kids running in fear, getting maced, and police officers losing control. Police chief James Tuffey called out the school district for letting it get that far.

Before turning to CBS 6 our source claims he tried to warn his bosses how far it was getting inside the school.

"explained the situation. They brought in the house principal, explain the situation. She felt I was starting trouble and I find that offensive"

To be fair CBS 6 didn't just take one employees word for it. We backed up his claims down at the Albany Police Department. We spent weeks compiling police reports and found that in the first two months of school, 75 times police have been called to Albany High. 49 of those calls came during school hours.  Some of the incidents were minor ones, but some were also major.

Some of the more severe cases showed a 67 year old teacher pushed to the ground, punched and kicked by a student.  Another teacher was punched multiple times in the ribs causing substantial pain and swelling. A School Monitor suffered lacerations to the forehead and hands by a student while another report documents a three on one student beating. Yet another police report tells of a two on beating where the student victim is struck in the back of the head with a padlock.

Albany Director of Security and Safety Ted Cook agreed to sitdown with CBS 6 to discuss the claims and the police reports.

"you're dealing with adolescents here. Some students present a challenge for us and we're dealing with it. We've had some issues, not issues, concerns about protocol. We usually sitdown and discuss them and appropriate action taken"

Cook gave CBS 6 an exclusive look inside their security detail showing us the 78 cameras that monitor Albany High everyday.

"This place is always manned. They can see a lot of things going on a hall monitor can't"

This year alone Security Director Ted Cook has seen enough to make major changes to the school system.

"we implemented a school ID system, our monitors are more engaging with the students, increased the staff of monitors, we conduct sweeps at different periods of the day and not all at the same time"

Another concern our source claims the school is dealing with is broken doors and even wide open ones. He's fearful anyone can walk in at anytime.

We approached that subject with Security Director Cook.

" i was aware, thought we had rectified that problem, we'll definitely check it out and have maintenence address that"

Every year schools must file all their incidents with the State Education Department.

In 2005-2006 Albany High had 392 reports.Last year that number nearly tripled and that's with less students attending.

The 2007-2008 numbers will be released sometime in the spring or summer but Albany High leaders say because of their changes this year, they expect those numbers to be down.

It's important to mention that Albany High maintenence did find one door to be broken. Ron Lesko with the school says it led out into a securely enclosed courtyard but assured the problem will be fixed.

They are still in the process of checking all of their doors.

To be fair, Albany High does measure up well with other schools in the area when it comes to police calls.

In the first two months of school Albany High had 75 calls. Troy High had 86 but police say most of the calls were for routine detail and traffic stops. Schenectady High had the most calls at 125. Like Troy, Police tell us most were normal detail and none ended in arrests.