‘Cutting’ class: Knife busts soar in schools

The knives are out in city schools — with seizures of the weapons up a staggering 92 percent since 2015, disturbing new data show.

The confiscated blades helped push last year’s overall weapons seizures to a nearly five-year high, according to a Post analysis of the NYPD statistics.

“Nothing has changed,” lamented Greg Floyd, president of the school-safety agents union, Monday. “The numbers keep rising year by year. This just means that more children are bringing knives to school because they know other kids are bringing knives to school.”

A total of 1,677 knives — nearly one for every city school — were found on students during the past academic year, according to the stats. That’s up drastically from the 873 blades seized in city schools in the 2014-2015 year.

The worrisome increase in knife possession in schools hit home especially in 2017, when a Bronx teen fatally stabbed one classmate and injured another — the city’s first classroom slaying in 25 years.

Killer student Abel Cedeno claimed that he just snapped after months of bullying for being gay. He was found guilty of manslaughter, weapons possession and assault last month and now faces up to 50 years in prison.

Floyd argued that rampant bullying in the city’s schools is contributing to student armament — and that increasingly lax punishment policies are only exacerbating the problem.

“We remain hopeful that the new chancellor will recognize that bullying is an integral part of school safety,” Floyd said of schools boss Richard Carranza, “because if this isn’t truly addressed, kids are going to take matters into their own hands.”

Overall, weapons recovery in schools dipped slightly last year, dropping to 2,701 from 2,718 during the 2017-2018 school year.

Still, weapons seizures in city schools are up by 60 percent since 2015, when 1,673 weapons were recovered.

A DOE spokesman said the rise in knife possession can be attributed to an increase in unannounced metal-detector scanning that began two years ago.

In addition to the pop-up scanners, the DOE has metal detectors permanently installed at roughly 90 school buildings.

Of the 2,701 weapons seized last year, 1,171 — or 43 percent — were detected by scanners, according to the NYPD.

The DOE rep also contended that improved school climate is making students and staffers more comfortable in reporting the presence of weapons.

“Our schools are safe and getting safer,” said the spokesman, Will Mantell.