The president of the school safety agent union says there are numerous factors contributing to an increase of weapons found in New York City schools.

Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, says not only have there been an alarming number of weapons seized, but there's also a shortage of school safety officers that will continue into next school year.

According to Floyd, 5,931 weapons were seized from students this year, including knives, brass knuckles, pipes, clubs and even stun guns. About 24 guns were discovered and seized in city schools as well.

Floyd says the increase is due to a number of factors, which include the settling of online issues that came up during remote learning during the pandemic, gangs, kids bringing weapons to protect themselves from other kids with weapons, and "raise the age," which he says removed the incentive to not bring weapons to school.

Floyd is now asking parents to do their part to help reverse the trend.

"I would urge parents to do what the mayor said: Check your child. Make sure that they don't have weapons, that they're not bringing weapons," Floyd said. "We need all the help we can get, and some of the children are getting the weapons from their parents because the parents don't realize that the children have their weapons. So, if you own a weapon, make sure you secure that weapon and your children go nowhere near that weapon."

Floyd also says that there are 2,000 school safety agent positions unfilled at this time. He says that new agents must undergo a 17-week training course, which means schools will likely still be short the school safety agents they need come the new school year in September.