New York City has reinstated an emergency alert system for private schools, restoring a communication tool that had been suspended earlier this year. The revamped system, which resumed operations on Tuesday, is designed to notify private schools when nearby public schools enter lockdown or require shelter-in-place actions.
The alert system, now integrated into Notify NYC—the city’s primary emergency notification platform with 1.6 million subscribers—provides targeted notifications based on neighborhoods. This marks an improvement from the previous version, which had limited reach and was managed separately from Notify NYC.
Officials said the original alert system was paused to reallocate staff resources toward multilingual communications related to major events such as the World Cup and the America250 celebration. Prior to the suspension, the city offered limited emergency messaging to private schools, with about 120,000 Notify NYC subscribers receiving information largely focused on weather-related school closures.
The new program aims to enhance situational awareness but does not replace private schools' internal emergency protocols or their direct coordination with the New York Police Department (NYPD) and local precincts. Unlike the roughly 1,600 public schools protected by the NYPD’s School Safety Division—which deploys unarmed agents who monitor police radio channels—private and parochial schools, which enroll approximately one-third of the city’s students, are generally responsible for their own security arrangements. Many employ private security officers who maintain contact with law enforcement and monitor news sources and community safety apps.
The gap in emergency communication for private schools has persisted for decades. Security concerns resurfaced in the wake of the September 11 attacks, prompting administrators like Tom Palermo of the Chapin School to develop informal notification lists based on information from city emergency management. However, these efforts were limited in scope and effectiveness.
More recently, safety concerns raised by parents such as Sarah Feinberg—a former federal and city transit official—highlighted the reliance of some private schools on crowdsourced social media apps to receive alerts about nearby threats. Collaborating with Palermo, Feinberg helped advocate for the establishment of the initial city-supported alert system for private schools in 2024. That first iteration, which allowed schools to opt into borough-specific alerts, faced challenges including low subscription rates and operational inefficiencies stemming from using two separate messaging platforms.
The updated system consolidates alert dissemination within Notify NYC, streamlining operations and allowing Emergency Management to plan for additional staff hires. The city intends to promote the enhanced alert system through outreach to school organizations and on social media channels.
Rabbi Joseph Beyda, head of Yeshivah of Flatbush’s Joel Braverman High School, welcomed the restored alerts, noting they would serve as an important tool in maintaining the safety of students and staff.
While some private schools were not aware of the prior alert system, several—including Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn—have already enrolled in the new notifications. City officials emphasized that private schools’ emergency procedures and relationships with law enforcement remain central, with the alert system serving as a supplementary measure to improve readiness amid evolving safety concerns.